rHE  CURRICULUM 


<N 


BY 


FRANKLIN  BOBBITT 

professor  of  Educational  Administration 
The  University  of  Chicago 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


w^^ 


^'\& 


&><• 


COPYRIGHT,  I918,  BY  FRANKLIN  BODBITT 
ALL  RIGHTS  RKSERVKD 


CAMBKIOGB  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U  .   S  .  A 


PREFACE 

Since  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  the  evolu- 
tion of  our  social  order  has  been  proceeding  with  great  and 
ever-accelerating  rapidity.  Simple  conditions  have  been 
growing  complex.  Small  institutions  have  been  growing 
large.  Increased  specialization  has  been  multiplying  human 
interdependencies  and  the  consequent  need  of  coordinating 
effort.  Democracy  is  increasing  within  the  Nation;  and 
growing  throughout  the  world.  All  classes  are  aspiring  to  a 
full  human  opportunity.  Never  before  have  civihzation  and 
humanization  advanced  so  swiftly. 

As  the  world  presses  eagerly  forward  toward  the  accom- 
plishment of  new  things,  education  also  must  advance  no  less 
swiftly.  It  must  provide  the  intelligence  and  the  aspirations 
necessary  for  the  advance;  and  for  stability  and  consistency 
in  holding  the  gains.  Education  must  take  a  pace  set,  not  by 
itself,  but  by  social  progress. 

The  present  program  of  public  education  was  mainly  for- 
mulated during  the  simpler  conditions  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. In  details  it  has  been  improved.  In  fundamentals  it  is 
not  greatly  different.  A  program  never  designed  for  the 
present  day  has  been  inherited. 

Any  inherited  system,  good  for  its  time,  when  held  to, 
after  its  day,  hampers  social  progress.  It  is  not  enough  that 
the  system,  fundamentally  unchanged  in  plan  and  purpose, 
be  improved  in  details.  In  education  this  has  been  done  in 
conspicuous  degree.  Our  schools  to-day  are  better  than  ever 
before.  Teachers  are  better  trained.  Supervision  is  more  ade- 
quate. Buildings  and  equipment  are  enormously  improved. 
Effective  methods  are  being  introduced,  and  time  is  being 


iv  PREFACE 

economized.  Improvements  are  visible  on  every  hand.  And 
yet  to  do  the  nineteenth-century  task  better  than  it  was  then 
done  is  not  necessarily  to  do  the  twentieth-century  task. 

New  duties  lie  before  us.  And  these  require  new  methods, 
new  materials,  new  vision.  The  old  education,  except  as  it 
conferred  the  tools  of  knowledge,  was  mainly  devoted  to 
filling  the  memory  with  facts.  The  new  age  is  more  in  need 
of  facts  than  the  old;  and  of  more  facts;  and  it  must  find 
more  effective  methods  of  teaching  them.  But  there  are 
now  other  functions.  Education  is  now  to  develop  a  typds 
of  wisdom  that  can  grow  only  out  of  participation  in  the/ 
living  experiences  of  men,  and  never  out  of  mere  memorizay 
tion  of  verbal  statements  of  facts.  It  must,  thereforCv-tokl 
thought  and  judgment  in  connection  with  actual  life- 
situations,  a  task  distinctly  different  from  the  cloistral  ac- 
tivities of  the  past.  It  is  also  to  develop  the  good-will,  the 
spirit  of  service,  the  social  valuations,  sympathies,  and  atti- 
tudes of  mind  necessary  for  effective  group-action  where 
specialization  has  created  endless  interdependency.  It  has 
the  function  of  training  every  citizen,  man  or  woman,  not 
for  knowledge  about  citizenship,  but  for  proficiency  in 
citizenship;  not  for  knowledge  about  hygiene,  but  for  pro- 
ficiency in  maintaining  robust  health;  not  for  a  mere  knowl- 
edge of  abstract  science,  but  for  proficiency  in  the  use  of 
ideas  in  the  control  of  practical  situations.  Most  of  these 
are  new  tasks.  In  connection  with  each,  much  is  now  be- 
ing done  in  all  progressive  school  systems;  but  most  of 
them  yet  are  but  partially  developed.  We  have  been  de- 
veloping knowledge,  not  function;  the  power  to  reproduce 
facts,  rather  than  the  powers  to  think  and  feel  and  will  and 
act  in  vital  relation  to  the  world's  life.  Now  we  must  look  to 
these  latter  things  as  well. 

Our  task  in  this  volume  is  tp  point  out  some  of  the  new 
duties.    We  are  to  show  why  education  must  now  under- 


PREFACE  V 

]  take  tasks  that  until  recently  were  not  considered  needful; 

/  why  new  methods,  new  materials,  and  new  types  of  experi- 

I  ence  must  be  employed.  We  here  try  to  develop  a  point  of 
view  that  seems  to  be  needed  by  practical  school  men  and 
women  as  they  make  the  educational  adjustments  now  de- 
manded by  social  conditions;  and  needed  also  by  scientific 
workers  who  are  seeking  to  define  with  accuracy  the  ob- 
jectives of  education.  It  is  the  feeling  of  the  writer  that  in 
the  social  reconstructions  of  the  post-war  years  that  lie 
just  ahead  of  us,  education  is  to  be  called  upon  to  liear  a 
hitherto  undreamed-of  burden  of  responsibility;  an4  t» 
undertake  unaccustomed  labors.  To  present  some  of  the 
theory  needed  for  the  curriculum  labors  of  this  new  age 
has  been  the  task  herein  attempted. 

This  is  a  first  book  in  a  field  that  until  recently  has  been 
too  little  cultivated.  For  a  long  time,  we  have  been  develop)- 
ing  the  theory  of  educational  method,  both  general  and 
special;  and  we  have  required  teachers  and  supervisors  to 
be  thoroughly  cognizant  of  it.  Recently,  however,  we  have 
discerned  that  there  is  a  theory  of  curriculum-formulation 
that  is  no  less  extensive  and  involved  than  that  of  method; 
and  that  it  is  just  as  much  needed  by  teachers  and  super- 
visors. To  know  what  to  do  is  as  important  as  to  know  how 
to  do  it.  This  volume,  therefore,  is  designed  for  teacher- 
training  institutions  as  an  introductory  textbook  in  the 

I  theory  of  the  curriculum;  and  for  reading  circles  in  the  train- 
ing of  teachers  in  service.  It  is  hoped  also  that  it  may 
assist  the  general  reader  who  is  interested  in  noting  recent 
educational  tendencies. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcinive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/curriculumOObobbricli 


CONTENTS 

PART  I.  ENDS  AND  PROCESSES 

I.  Two  Levels  of  Educational  Experience       .      .      3 

n.  Educational  Experience  upon  the  Play-Level  .      8 

ni.  Educational  Experience  upon  the  Work-Level  »    18 

IV.  The  Place  of  Ideas  in  Work-Experience      .      .    26 

^  V.  Where  Education  can  be  accomplished  ...    34 

*-^  VI.  Scientific  Method  m  Curriculum-Making    .      .41' 

PART  II.  TRAINING  FOR  OCCUPATIONAL  EFFICIENCY 

Vn.  Purposes  of  Vocational  Training      ,      .      ,      .    55 

VIII.  Specialized  Technical  Training 71 

IX.  The  Specialized  Training  of  Group- Workers      .    76 

X.  Social  Aspects  of  Occupational  Training     .      .    87 
♦ 

PART  m.  EDUCATION  FOR  CITimJSHIP 

XL  The  Nature  of  the  Good  Citizen       ....  117 

^  XII.  The  Development  of  Enlightened  Large-Group 

Consciousness 131 

XIII.  Moral  and  Religious  Education 163 

PART  IV.  EDUCATION  FOR  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY 

XIV.  The  Fundamental  Task  of  Physical  Training     .  171 
XV.  Physical  Traininq 180 

XVI.  The  Socla.l  Factors  of  Physical  Efficiency  .      .  189 


viu  CONTENTS   ^ 

PART  V.  EDUCATION  FOR  LEISURE  OCCUPATIONS 

XVn.  The  Function  of  Play  in  Human  Life     .      .      .  207 
y  XVni.  Reading  as  a  Leisure  Occupation      ....  227 

PART  VI.  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL 
INTERCOMMUNICATION 

^  XIX.  The  Motheh-Tongue 247 

y]  XX.  Training  in  Foreign  Languages 255 

XXI.  Some  Concluding  Considerations      ....  282 

Index  .      .      .      .    "• 291 


THE  CURRICULUM 

PART  I 
ENDS  AND  PROCESSES 


THE  CUEEICULUM 

CHAPTER  I 

TWO  LEVELS  OF  EDUCATIONAL  EXPERIENCE 

Current  discussion  of  education  reveals  the  presence  in 
the  field  of  two  antagonistic  schools  of  educational  thought. 
On  the  one  hand  are  those  who  look  primarily  to  the  sub- 
jective results :  the  enriched  mind,  quickened  appreciations, 
refined  sensibihties,  discipline,  culture.     To  them  the  end 
of  education  is  the  ability  to  live  rather  than  the  practical  i^ 
ability  to  produce.  For  them  most  of  education  is  to  be  mo- 
tivated by  interest  in  the  educational  experiences  themselves,  — 
without  particular  solicitude  at  the  moment  as  to  the  prac- 
tical use  or  uselessness  of  those  experiences.  If  they  expand    I 
and  unfold  the  potential  nature  of  the  individual,  therein-^ 
lies  their  justification.   The  full  unfoldment  of  one's  powers    ' 
is  the  primordial  preparation  for  practical  life.  ^ 

On  the  other  hand  there  are  those  who  hold  that  educa- 
tion is  to  look  primarily  and  consciously  to  efficient  prac- 
tical action  in  a  practical  world.  i.The  individual  is  edu- 
cated who  can  perform  efficiently  the  labors  of  his  calUng; 
4^ho  can  effectively  cooperate  with  his  fellows  in  social  and 
civic  affairs  jwho  can  keep  his  bodily  powers  at  a  high  level 
of  efficiency^ho  is  prepared  to  participate  in  proper  range 
of  desirable  leisure  occupations  ;iiwho  can  effectively  bring 
his  children  to  full-orbed  manhood  and  womanhood  J^and  - 
who  can  carry  on  all  his  social  relations  with  his  fellows  in 
an  agreeable  and  effective  manner.  Education  is  consciously 
to  prepare  for  these  things. 


4r .     .  TH3S  OURRICDLUM 

The  controversy  involves  practically  ev^^field  of  train- 
ing. For  example,  the  advocates  of  culture  would  have 
science  studied  because  it  is  a  rich  and  vitalizing  field  of  hu- 
man thought.  They  would  have  the  student  Kve  abundantly 
within  the  wide  fields  of  his  chemistry  or  biology  or  physics 
without  at  the  time  any  great  regard  for  the  practical  use  or 
uselessness  of  the  particular  facts  met  with.  If  the  experience 
is  vivifying,  if  it  satisfies  intellectual  cravings,  therein  is  to 
be  found  its  suflicient  excuse.  They  assume  that  enough  of 
the  scientific  facts,  principles,  and  habits  of  mind  acquired 
will  be  of  use  afterwards  to  justify  the  teaching  from  a  purely 
utilitarian  point  of  view.  In  fact,  they  assert  that  these  things 
can  be  better  mastered  when  studied  as  "science  for  science* 
sake  "  than  when  narrowed  down  to  practical  science  for  the 
work's  sake. 

The  utilitarians,  on  the  other  hand,  would  have  science 
studied  in  order  that  the  facts  may  be  put  to  work  by  farm- 
ers in  their  farming,  by  mechanics  in  their  shops,  and  va- 
riously in  the  fields  of  manufacturing,  mining,  choking,  san-  ^ 
itation,  etc.  They  would  have  an  accurate  survey  made  of ' 
the  science-needs  of  each  social  class;  and  to  each  they  would 
teach  only  the  facts  needed;  only  those  that  are  to  be  put 
to  work.  In  an  age  of  efficiency  and  economy  they  would 
seek  definitely  to  ehminate  the  useless  and  the  wasteful. 
To  cover  the  broad  fields  of  the  sciences  without  regard  to 
the  functioning  value  of  the  particular  facts  is  a  blunder- 
buss method  in  an  age  that  demands  the  accuracy  of  the 
rifle.  It  is  to  waste  time  and  energy  and  money  that  are 
needed  elsewhere.  It  is  to  force  upon  unwilling  students 
things  that  can  be  justified  upon  no  practical  grounds. 

A  social  study  like  history  or  literature  the  culture-advo- 
cates conceive  to  be  chiefly  a  means  of  lifting  the  curtain 
upon  human  experience  in  all  lands  and  ages.  It  gives  the 
pupil  an  opportunity  to  view  and  to  mingle  vicariously  in 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  EDUCATIONAL  EXPERIENCE  5 

the  age-long  va^ed  pageant  of  world-wide  human  life.  The 
pupil's  busing  is  simply  to  look  upon  this  pageant  as  he 
would  view  a  play  at  the  theater.  The  experience  is  in  itself 
a  satisfying  mode  of  Hving,  enriching  his  consciousness,  ex- 
panding the  fields  of  his  imagination,  refining  his  apprecia- 
tions. When  in  his  reading  he  beholds  the  "glory  that  was 
Greece  and  the  splendour  that  was  Rome,"  the  epics  of 
Homer  or  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare,  he  need  not  concern 
himself  with  the  appUcation  of  that  experience  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  practical  duties.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
utihtarians  tell  us  that  we  would  better  eliminate  ancient 
history  and  the  older  literatures.  These  deal  with  a  world 
that  is  dead,  a  civilization  that  is  mouldered,  with  govern- 
ments that  are  now  obsolete,  with  manners  and  customs  and 
languages  that  are  altogether  impracticable  in  this  modern 
age.  In  their  judgment,  in  so  far  as  we  need  history  at  all,  it 
should  be  modern  history  drawn  for  the  purpose  of  throwing 
light  upon  current  practical  problems  of  industry,  commerce, 
and  citizenship.  The  facts  should  be  gathered  in  definite  re- 
lation to  the  problems  and  not  be  mere  blunderbuss  history 
that  aims  at  nothing  in  particular.  And  as  for  literature,  they 
say,  it  would  best  be  that  which  reveals  the  world  of  to-day: 
the  present  natures  of  men  and  women;  present-day  social 
problems  and  human  reactions;  current  modes  of  thought; 
existing  conditions  in  the  fields  of  commerce,  industry, 
sanitation,  civic  relationships,  and  recreational  life;  not 
classics,  but  current  literature. 

The  controversy  is  particularly  marked  in  the  matter  of 
foreign  languages.  Ancient  languages  do  not  function  in 
the  Hves  of  men,  say  the  utilitarians:  therefore  they  should 
be  cast  out.  For  the  vast  majority,  even  the  modem  lan- 
guages do  not  function.  What  does  not  appear  in  the  lives 
of  the  people  has  no  reason  to  appear  in  the  education  of  the 
people.  The  argument  is  plausible,  convincing;  and  yet  the 


6  THE  CURRICULUM 

foreign-language  advocate  is  not  convinced.  He  asserts 
that  important  matters  are  lost  sight  of;  that  there  are  more 
things  in  human  life  than  practical  action,  however  efficient; 
that  living  itself  is  worth  while ;  that  it  is  the  end  of  education ; 
and  that  the  various  utilities  are  but  to  provide  the  means. 

e  looks  to  a  self-realization,  to  a  humanism,  to  a  world  of 
satisfactions  that  lie  above  and  beyond  the  mere  means  to 
be  used  in  attaining  those  high  ends.  He  accuses  our  prac- 
tical age  of  aiming  at  a  life  for  man  that  is  too  narrow, 
barren,  mechanical,  materialistic. 

Now,  which  side  is  right?  Doubtless  both  are  right.  It  is 
like  asking  the  question,  "Which  shall  the  tree  produce,  the 
flower  or  the  fruit?  "  It  must  produce  both  or  it  will  not 
perform  its  full  function.  We  have  here  simply  to  do  with 
two  levels  of  functioning,  two  levels  of  educational  expe- 
riences, both  of  which  are  essential  to  fullness  of  growth, 
efficiency  of  action,  and  completeness  of  character.  Both  are 
good,  both  are  necessary;  one  precedes  the  other.  One  is  ex- 
perience upon  the  play-level :  the  other  experience  upon  the 
work-level.  One  is  action  driven  by  spontaneous  interest: 
the  other,  by  derived  interest.  One  is  the  luxuri^tion  of  the 
subjective  life  which  has  a  value  for  objective  experience 
even  though  one  be  not  conscious  of  the  values  at  the  time. 
The  other  looks  to  the  conscious  shaping  and  control  of  the 
objective  world;  but  requires  for  maximum  effectiveness  the 
background  of  subjective  life  provided  by  the  otherj 

The  culture-people  are  not  wrong  in  demanding  an  edu^ 
cation  that  looks  to  the  widening  of  vision,  the  deepening 
of  the  general  understanding,  the  actualizing  of  one's  poten- 
tial powers,  the  full-orbed  expansion  and  maintenance  of 
the  personality,  the  harnessing-up  of  native  interests,  the 
development  of  enthusiasms  and  ideals;  or  briefly,  the  full 
humanization  of  the  individual.  They  cannot  too  miich 
insist. 


TWO  LEVELS  OF  EDUCATIONAL  EXPERIENCE  7 

The  practical-minded  people  are  not  wrong  in  affirming 
that  man's  life  consists,  and  must  consist,  largely  in  the 
performance  of  responsible  duties;  that  these  are  to  be  ca- 
pably performed;  that  responsibilities  are  to  be  efficiently 
absolved;  that  there  is  need  of  technical  accuracy,  depend- 
ableness,  industry,  persistence,  right  habits,  skill,  practical 
knowledge,  physical  and  moral  fiber,  and  adherence  to  duty 
whether  it  be  pleasant  or  painful;  and  that  these  results  are 
not  to  be  sufficiently  achieved  without  education  of  the 
practical  work-type.  Upon  these  things  they  cannot  too 
much  insist. 


CHAPTER  II 

EDUCATIONAL  EXPERIENCE  UPON  THE  PLAY-LEVEL 

Recent  psychology  tells  us  that  man  has  a  long  period  of 
childhood  and  youth  in  order  that  he  may  play.  He  plays, 
not  because  he  is  young,  but  he  is  long  yoimg  in  order  that 
he  may  play;  and  thus  through  active  experience  secure  his 
,  education.  Play  is  Nature's  active  mode  of  education. 
Shall  a  boy  unfold  his  physical  powers  so  that  he  can 
run  with  speed  and  endurance,  or  throw  accurately  or  fight 
with  strength  and  skill,  or  exert  himself  long  hours  without 
undue  fatigue?  Nature  provides  that  in  his  play  he  shall  run 
and  throw  and  fight  and  otherwise  exert  himself;  and  thus 
make  actual  his  potential  powers.  Physical  play  is  Nature's^ 
physical  education.  Shall  the  boy  develop  the  social  abilities 
necessary  for  full  cooperation  with  the  members  of  his  social 
group?  Nature  provides  instinctive  tendency  to  participate 
in  group-plays,  social  games,  conversation,  etc.,  which  de- 
velop his  social  nature,  fix  his  social  habits,  and  cement  so- 
cial soHdarity.  gocial  play  is  Nature's  active  method  of  »^ 
social  education.  Shall  the  boy  possess  an  unspecialized 
mechanical  ability  of  a  type  that  is  even  more  needful  to- 
day than  in  the  age  when  man's  nature  was  shaped?  Fortu- 
nately, here  again  we  find  the  strong' constructive  and  oper- 
ative play-instincts  which  drive  boys  to  make  and  operate 
things.  Give  a  normal-minded  boy  a  rich  opportunity  to 
make  things  and  to  '*make  them  go,"  —  and  one  has  then 
only  to  leave  him  alone  with  his  opportunity.  Nature's 
method  of  education  will  do  the  rest.  Shall  he  be  observant 
of  men  and  affairs  about  him?  Shall  he  fill  his  mind  concern- 
ing the  things  with  which  he  is  to  be  concerned  throughout 


THE  PLAY-LEVEL  9 

life?  Shall  he  acquire  and  maintain  masses  of  knowledge 
through  the  possession  of  an  inquiring  disposition?  Again 
Nature  has  provided  the  deep-lying  and  powerful  mental- 
play  instinct  of  curir^sity,  tV»p  intellpotiifll  appfititp,  the  desire 
to  know.  The  boy  is  made  watchful  of  everything  that 
goes  on  about  him,  especially  the  actions  of  men.  Thus  he 
learns  and  thus  he  continues  to  leam  throughout  life. 
Mental  play  is  Nature's  active  method  of  filling  the  mind  ^ 
with  information. 

Since^ducatiQiLisjsa4argely-ar^  matter  of  loamiag^JJiings, 
let  us  first  take  up  this  topic  of  mental  play  as  the  basis  of  ^ 
intellectual  education.  One  observes  men  and  their  affairs, 
the  things  of  one's  environment,  and  the  natural  phenomena 
by  which  one  is  surrounded,  simply  as  a  mode  of  living. 
Through  such  observation  he  is  continuously  gathering  facts 
through  all  of  his  wakmgliours;  and  without  question  as  to 
the  use  or  uselessness  of  the  information.    He  makes  no 
attempt  to  observe  merely  the  things  that  can  be  of  practical 
service  in  his  personal  affairs.  He  lives  most  fully  who  keeps  i 
himself  awake  to  everything  before  him  and  who  sees  all 
in  due  relation  and  proportion  even  though  most  of  it  has  I 
no  visible  relation  to  his  practical  affairs.  ^ 

Not  only  does  he  observe  directly,  but  he  listens  with 
consuming  interest  to  the  stories  of  things  which  he  has 
not  seen.  Most  of  the  gossip  of  the  daily  papers  relates  to 
things  with  which,  he  has  no  immediate  concern.  And  yet 
he  reads  and  learns,  and  feels  that  if  he  does  not  do  so  he 
does  not  fully  live.  The  avidity  with  which  he  absorbs  the 
news  or  the  eager  curiosity  with  which  gossips  delve  into 
the  affairs  of  the  neighborhood  show  the  universality  and 
the  intensity  of  this  hunger  after  knowledge,  even  of  useless  ^ 
type.  One  drinks  endlessly  at  this  fountain  without  ever 
so  much  as  raising  the  question  whether  the  knowledge  so 
obtained  is  or  can  ever  be  of  any  use.  Like  breathing,  one 


/ 


10  THE  CURRICULUM 

feels  it  to  be  a  natural  portion  of  living  which  requires  no 
justification. 

Learning  things  because  of  curiosity  without  reference  to 
the  use  of  that  knowledge  is  really  one  of  the  largest  normal 
activities  of  man.  Knowledge-getting  because  of  curiosity 
is  analogous  to  food-getting  because  of  hunger.  One  wants 
the  food  when  hungry  whether  he  knows  anything  about 
its  functional  value  or  not.  The  himger  is  Nature's  way  of  •^ 
ascribing  value  to  things  that  the  man  needs.  Equally,  the 
healthy  mind  wants  to  know  the  things  that  appeal  to  the 
mental  appetite  without  care  at  the  time  as  to  their  prac- 
tical application.  /This  knowledge-hunger  is  Nature's  • 
method  of  ascribing  value  to  the  things  that  the  man  needs 
—  when  he  is  too  immature  or  too  stupid  to  know  what  he 
\  needs.  Such  strong  and  continuing  instincts  impel  only  to 
1  things  that  are  on  the  whole  useful  and  necessary. 

It  is  play;  but  it  has  its  values.  Although  most  things 
observed  have  no  visible  relation  to  his  immediate  affairs, 
yet  everything  in  the  community  is  related  to  everything 
else  in  subtle,  intangible,  and  usually  unknown  ways.  Each 
individual  is  the  center  of  a  vortex  of  influences.  He  needs 
an  understanding  of  the  total  life  of  the  community  in  order 
that  he  may  adjust  his  actions  to  the  factors  of  the  situation 
as  a  whole.  His  current  information  concerning  appar- 
ently useless  things  really  gives  him  fullness  of  vision  of  the 
total  pageant  of  community  life  of  which  he  forms  a  part. 
This  fullness  of  vision  is  necessary  for  understanding;  for 
valuations;  and  right  social  attitudes. 

While  traveling  to  my  work  in  the  Orient,  some  years  ago, 
I  had  occasion  to  observe  a  portion  of  the  educational  ex- 
periences of  two  boys  about  twelve  years  of  age.  The  ship 
CD  which  we  Were  traveling  stopped  for  a  day  or  two  at  each 
of  a  number  of  ports:  Hongkong,  Shanghai,  Nagasaki,  Kobe, 
Yokohama,  etc.  Scarcely  had  the  ship  come  to  anchor  when 


THE  PLAY-LEVEL  11 

the  boys  were  off  and  away  on  an  exploring  expedition.  For 
them  it  was  a  region  strange  and  new.  There  was  no  assign- 
ment of  anything  for  them  to  leam;  they  were  not  sent; 
they  were  not  going  ashore  to  get  information  so  that  they 
might  recite  upon  it  at  night;  it  was  not  a  thing  upon  which 
they  were  later  to  be  examined.  Simply  a  rich  field  of  experi- 
ence opened  before  them  and  they  eagerly  embraced  their 
opportunities  and  went  forth  to  partake  to  the  full.  It  was 
simply  play-experience  resulting  from  their  intellectual 
hungers.  During  the  day  they  visited  as  many  different 
portions  of  the  city  as  their  time  and  their  means  of  loco- 
motion would  permit.  They  looked  into  the  residences  of 
rich  and  poor,  into  the  shops,  amusement  places,  religious 
temples,  soldiers'  barracks,  streets  and  alleys,  the  condi- 
tions of  Hfe  among  the  well-to-do  and  among  the  poor,  etc. 
They  came  back  to  the  ship  at  night  with  rich  stores  of 
experience  and  full  to  overflowing  with  information.  It 
required  no  effort  on  the  part  of  the  adult  members  of  their 
party  to  secure  extended  and  enthusiastic  verbal  reports. 
13ie-boy&-w^^4iving.  They  werg jiot  simply  memori2LLag 
facts.  It  was  all  upon  the  play-level;  and  yet  they  were  se- 
curing the  best  possible  type  of  education.  Had  it  been  made 
a  work-task  for  them  with  definite  program  and  time  allot- 
ments, with  reports  that  had  to  be  put  up  in  specified  form 
and  with  examinations  to  see  that  nothing  had  been  over- 
looked,— would  they  have  left  the  ship?  And  in  what  mood? 
This  experience  of  the  two  boys  seems  to  indicate  the  kind 
of  intellectual  play-experience  needed  throughout  the  fields 
of  education.  In  the  same  way,  impelled  only  by  curiosity  J 
and  the  play-motive,  following  the  leadings  of  interest.  ^ 
children  and  youth  should,  it  appears,  wander  through 
every  important  field  of  human  knowledge  and  human 
experience.  Without  any  particular  consciousness  of  the  se- 
rious values  or  purposes  of  the  learning,  they  should  thus 


12  THE  CURRICULUM 

lay  a  wide  and  secure  foundation  of  understanding  of  all 
important  aspects  of  reality.  So  far  as  possible,  this  should 
be  by  observation.  But  one's  horizon  is  narrow,  and  most 
of  this  world  lies  beyond,  and  stretches  backward  through 
history.  Most  is  to  be  explored  vicariously  in  imagination 
on  the  basis  of  the  reports  of  others.  For  this,  pupils  need/ 
books  that  vividly  reconstruct  the  experiences  of  others. 

There  is  a  great  wealth  of  geographical  readings,  espe- 
cially travels,  which  present  a  vivid  reconstruction  of  life  in 
other  lands.  As  children  travel,  for  example,  in  their  read- 
ings with  Peary  to  the  North  Pole,  or  with  Amundsen  and 
Scott  to  the  South  Pole,  their  experiences  will  bring  them 
to  appreciate  the  nature  of  the  polar  regions  almost  as  clearly 
as  if  they  had  been  there  in  the  flesh.  Let  them  travel  in 
spirit  with  Livingstone  and  Stanley  and  Roosevelt  into  the 
heart  of  Africa  and  they  will  have  an  appreciation  of  the 
nature  of  Central  Africa  that  they  can  obtain  in  no  other 
way.  Let  them  travel  with  Captain  Cook  and  Darwin  and 
Stevenson  through  the  South  Seas,  with  Dana  in  his  voyage 
around  the  "Horn,"  with  Tyndall  and  Jordan  in  the  Alps, 
with  John  Muir  and  Enos  Mills  in  the  Rockies,  with  George 
Kennan  in  Siberia,  etc.,  —  let  them  thus  travel  vicariously 
through  the  various  lands  and  regions  of  the  earth,  and  they 
will  come  to  have  a  full  appreciation  of  the  nature  of  the 
world.  In  the  reading  of  literature  with  geographical  back- 
ground like  Captains  Courageous,  Heidiy  Kim,  The  Iron 
Trail,  The  Lumberman,  etc.,  children  are  permitted  further 
to  relive  the  lives  of  peoples  in  various  lands  and  under 
various  conditions;  and  thus  through  living  acquire  under- 
standing. These  geographical  readings  should  aim,  not  at 
information,  but  at  experience.  Like  the  two  boys  roaming 
through  the  cities  merely  as  a  mode  of  living,  the  children 
in  our  schools  should  roam  through  the  wide  earth  in  the 
pages  of  their  reading  merely  as  a  satisfying  mode  of  living. 


THE  PLAY-LEVEL  IS 

The  more  unsophisticated,  the  less  they  are  conscious  of 
the  serious  values,  the  more  they  simply  follow  interest, 
probably  the  better  will  be  the  experience  for  education. 

History  presents  another  rich  and  endless  field  for  explo- 
ration upon  the  play-level.  This  children  should  read  for 
the  sake  of  their  interest  in  the  human  story,  in  the  anec- 
dotes, the  biographies,  the  struggles,  the  adventures,  and 
all  of  the  other  things  that  appeal  to  childhood  and  youth. 
Thus  they  should  become  acquainted  with  all  the  family 
of  nations.  They  should  participate  in  the  historical  experi- 
ences of  all  important  countries  for  the  same  type  of  delight 
that  actuated  the  boys  in  exploring  the  foreign  cities.  They 
need  not  know  at  the  time  the  values  of  this  experience  in 
developing  large-group  consciousness,  national  and  plane- 
tary sympathies  and  understandings,  the  bases  of  civic 
judgment,  or  the  solid  foundations  of  any  "Federation  of 
the  World  "  which  we  may  ever  produce. 

The  teacher  must  see  the  serious  ends  in  order  to  adjust . 
conditions,  to  control  motives,  and  to  guide.  But  children 
should  not  be  greatly  conscious  of  the  growth-ends  of  play- 
experience.  The  play-spirit  is  a  skittish  thing  that  tends  to 
take  flight  when  it  sees  itself  harnessed  up  and  set  to  pro- 
saic productive  labors.  On  this  level  it  is  enough  for  the 
children  that  the  historical  reconstructions  be  true,  vivid, 
interesting,  voluminous,  and  rapidly  read;  that  the  experi- 
ence be  a  satisfying  mode  of  living,  like  going  to  a  play,  or 
reading  an  exciting  story.  On  this  level  it  should  not  be  con- 
scious learning  of  facts,  — for  the  reason  that  we  want  more 
learning  than  can  be  accomplished  that  way;  and  other  things 
equally  valuable  that  cannot  be  accomplished  that  way  at  all. 

One  has  a  natural  interest,  not  only  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
but  also  in  the  things  and  forces  with  which  men  are  sur- 
rounded and  with  which  they  must  deal :  the  phenomena  of 
nature,  the  fields  of  science.  Give  healthy-minded  children 


14  THE  CURRICULUM 

a  full  opportunity  to  indulge  in  the  playful  manipulation  of 
toys,  tools,  machines,  appliances,  and  materials  that  involve 
mechanical  principles;  the  making  and  operation  of  electrical 
devices;  the  manipulation  of  sound-producing  apparatus  and 
instruments;  of  lenses;  projection  apparatus;  photographic 
apparatus;  experimentation  with  the  chemical  elements; 
exploring  geological  formations;  keeping  pets;  visiting  the 
Zoo,  the  Aviary,  the  Aquarium,  or  the  plant  conserva- 
tory; observing  plants  and  animals  in  their  native  haunts 
and  habitats;  —  give  the  unspoiled  child  proper  oppor- 
tunities at  these  things  and  he  asks  no  better  fun.  He 
brings  to  them  the  same  eager  intellectual  desires  to  know 
that  inspire  the  trained  scientist  who  delights  in  scientific 
"knowledge  for  its  own  sake."  Let  the  child,  therefore,! 
explore  the  world  of  reality  as  widely  and  deeply  as  he  can) 
be  enabled  to  get  at  it;  and  when  he  has  reached  the  limita- 
tions imposed  by  conditions,  let  him  read  the  stories  of 
insect  life,  of  flowers,  birds,  bees,  rocks,  stars,  animals  wild 
and  tame,  electricity  and  its  applications,  chemistry  and  its 
wonders,  mechanics  and  inventions,  light  and  sound  and 
heat,  and  all  the  rest.  Naturally  he  will  explore  according 
to  his  maturity.  Much  of  this  can  be  accomplished  in  the 
elementary  schools  —  more  than  school  people  have  usually 
thought  possible.  Still  more  of  it  should  come  in  the  high 
school.  Probably  the  scientific  interest  is  no  stronger  in  the 
high  school  than  in  the  elementary;  simply  pupils  are  capable 
of  seeing  wider  and  deeper  relations.  It  is  probable  that  the 
science  experience  of  the  elementary  level  should  cover  a 
wide  range.  Then  upon  the  high -school  level  they  will 
simply  go  into  greater  detail  and  attain  the  higher  levels  of 
generahty.  After  one  is  familiar  with  the  concrete  details, 
the  tracing-out  of  general  relationships  and  discovering  the 
natural  organization  of  the  field  are  among  the  normal 
intellectual  delights. 


THE  PLAY-LEVEL  15 

Neither  the  laboratory  nor  reading  experiences  upon  this 
level  need  be  functional  in  the  consciousness  of  the  children 
any  more  than  the  daily  newspaper  or  one's  observations 
out  of  a  car  window.  The  experience  is  not  to  be  so  sys- 
tematized that  the  spontaneous'  play-spirit  is  destroyed. 
There  is  not  to  be  too  much  teaching.  What_the_childreii 
crave  and  need  is  experience.  The  school's  main  task  is  to 
supply  opportunities  that  are  so  varied  and  attractive  that, 
like  the  two  boys  when  they  arrived  at  a  port,  pupils  will 
want  to  plunge  in  and  to  enjoy  the  opportunities  that  are 
placed  before  them. 

All  of  these  prehminary  studies  or  experiences,  whether 
geographical,  historical,  literary,  or  scientific,  like  children's 
play  in  general  need  to  be  rich  in  details,  full  of  human 
color,  infinitely  varied,  touched  Hghtly  and  then  left  behind, 
taken  up  as  prompted  by  interest  not  by  logic,  superficial, 
repetitious,  and  loosely  organized.  There  is  need  of  move- 
ment, irregularity,  caprice,  variety,  and  incessant  interplay 
of  all  the  factors  that  compose  the  human  spirit.  For  such 
are  the  ways  of  childhood;  and  even  of  youth  and  adulthood 
in  the  hours  of  their  freedom. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  illustrate  the  nature  of  educa- 
tional experience  upon  the  play-level  in  fields  that  involve 
a  large  intellectual  element:  but  there  are  other  kinds  of^ 
play.  The  usual  manual  training  shop  is  a  play-shop,  and 
the  kitchen  a  play-kitchen.(  The  experiences  in  the  main  are 
but  a  liberation  of  the  constructive  and  operative  play- 
instinctsA  And  upon  the  early  or  preliminary  levels  of  one's 
education  this  is  as  it  should  be.  For  where  the  equipment 
is  such  as  to  permit  diversity  of  experience  with  tools, 
machines,  materials,  and  processes,  there  is  nothing  so 
good  as  play-experience  for  laying  the  solid  foundations  for 
the  later  industrial  studies. 
I    It  is  generally  conceded  nowadays  that  the  best  type  of 


16  THE  CURRICULUM 

physical  training  is  the  (liberation  of  the  physical  play- 
impulses  of  childrenj  Systematic  gymnastics  and  calisthen- 
ics are  being  discarded  and  in  their  stead  we  are  introducing 
a  great  variety  of  indoor  and  outdoor  games,  sports, 
rhythmic  dances,  folk-dances,  hiking  expeditions,  etc.,  of 
the  types  in  which  well-trained  children  and  youth  indulge 
in  the  hours  of  their  freedom.  We  are  making  this  change, 
not  because  it  is  easier  to  manage  or  less  expensive  or  more 
economical  of  time,  for  it  is  none  of  these  things;  but  rather 
because  physical  experience  upon  the  play-level  is  a  more 
effective  kind  of  physical  education  than  spiritless  mechan- 
ized physical  exercises  at  word  of  command  from  which  the 
play-spirit  is  absent. 

The  social  training  likewise  that  we  are  introducing  into 
our  schools  is  mainly  upon  the  play-level.  It  is  accomplished 
in  connection  with  the  plays  and  games,  the  social  clubs, 
the  dancing,  the  civic  leagues,  the  Boy  Scouts  and  the 
Camp-Fire  Girls  movements,  and  the  general  social  life  of 
the  school.  The  greater  the  spontaneity,  other  things  equal, 
/    the  greater  the  values. 

To  say  that  portions  of  serious  education  are  to  be  on  the 
order  of  play  no  longer  shocks  a  practical-minded  people 
as  it  once  did.  Our  biology,  psychology,  and  sociology  have 
recently  shown  us  the  serious  values  of  play  and  the  vital 
function  it  has  always  performed  and  must  perform  in  hu- 
man life.  For  whatever  the  field  of  man's  activity,  it  is  this 
that  lays  the  foundation  for  the  serious,  sj>ecialized  matters 
that  are  to  come  later.  It  is  man's  basic  training,  and  in  the 
present  world  of  infinite  complexity,  demanding  world-wide 
vision  and  sympathies,  it  needs  to  be  full,  rich,  and  extensive. 

We  are  also  coming  to  recognize  the  value  of  harnessing 

up  the  play-motive  when  we  wish  strenuous  exertion.  It  does 

not  mean  lack  of  effort;  rather  intensification  of  effort.    A 

/    boy  will  play  till  he  drops  from  fatigue,  and  do  it  all  volun- 


THE  PLAY-LEVEL  17 

tarily  for  the  love  of  the  cause.  He  will  not  voluntarily  do 
that  in  his  work,  where  the  play-spirit  is  omitted.  It  is  the 
boys  or  girls  who  enter  with  the  greatest  zest  into  the  ac- 
tions of  men  as  reconstructed  in  their  histories,  who  take 
sides  in  the  struggles,  and  who  are  warmed  by  their  sympa- 
thetic and  vicarious  participation  in  the  historical  actions, 
who  have  most  historical  experience  and  get  the  greatest 
good  from  their  history.  It  is  the  boy  who  wants  to  win  in 
the  spelling  match  who  will  manfully  master  the  entire  spell- 
ing book  as  a  part  of  the  game.  The  pupil  who  sees  his  mathe- 
matics as  a  series  of  interesting  puzzles  and  games,  is  the  one 
who  will  come  nearest  to  conquering  every  difficulty  that 
shows  its  head.  The  thing  that  one  enjoys  is  the  thing  at 
which  one  will  strain  every  nerve.  Given  a  healthy  play- 
motive  and  the  right  opportunity,  it  is  like  a  high-power 
engine  and  a  straight  track  ahead. 

We  find  here  a  partial  answer  to  the  contention  that  edu-) 
cation  on  the  basis  of  interest  results  in  softness  and  flabbi-| 
ness.  Really  it  is  the  one  who  finds  his  educational  pre- 
scriptions pieces  of  drudgery  who  most  tries  to  evade  them, 
consciously  or  unconsciously;  and  who  consequently  suf- 
fers from  softness  and  flabbiness.  The  boys  on  the  ath- 
letic fields  who  most  enjoy  their  opportunities  are  the  ones 
who  most  often  over-develop  physically;  and  later  suffer 
therefrom.  Interest-driven  exercise  is  not  only  efficacious 
for  developing  fiber,  but  it  must  even  be  guarded  against 
because  of  its  over-efficacy  where  conditions  are  specially  - 
favorable.  It  is  no  less  true  in  the  intellectual  realm.  Find 
the  student  in  mathematics  or  physics  or  Latin  who  has  the 
best  general  command  over  the  subject,  who  sees  relations 
in  clearest  perspective,  who  has  least  intellectual  flabbiness, 
—  it  is  always  one  who  delights  in  his  studies  in  that  field; 
one  who  loves  the  subject  "for  its  own  sake."  It  is  never  the^ 
one  for  whom  the  experience  is  drudgery. 


CHAPTER  III 

EDUCATIONAL  EXPERIENCE  UPON  THE  WORK-LEVEL 

Although  play  has  its  place  in  the  process,  education 
aims  at  preparation  for  the  serious  duties  of  life:  one*s  calling, 
the  care  of  one*s  health,  civic  cooperations  and  regulation, 
bringing  up  one's  children,  keeping  one's  language  in  good 
form,  etc.  Educational  experience  upon  the  work-level  is 
intended  to  prepare  consciously  for  the  efficient  performance 
of  these  and  all  other  serious  duties.  By  work  in  this  chapter 
we  refer  not  merely  to  one's  calling,  but  to  all  of  one's 
responsible  activities. 

Even  one's  play  has  ends  that  are  as  serious  as  those  of 
one's  work,  for  they  are  the  same  ends;  but  the  relations  are 
different.  Although  one  may  be  unconscious  at  the  time  of 
the  serious  values  of  his  play.  Nature  is  thereby  aiming 
definitely  at  his  physical  upbuilding,  his  mental  expansion, 
and  his  social  development.  Neither  the  play-instincts  nor 
the  pleasures  thereby  occasioned  are  given  as  purposeless 
luxuries.  The  pleasm'e  is  noL§3i,end;  itjs  a  lure.  It  is  a  prim- 
itive method  of  impelling  serious  developmental  activities 
where  the  intellect  cannot  be  depended  upon  to  direct  the 
work.  It  is  serious  activity  impelled  by  instinct;  whereas 
work  is  serious  activity  impelled  by  ideas.  The  play  is  short- 
sighted; even  blind  in  the  face  of  modern  conditions.  Work 
when  fully  developed  is  far-sighted,  clear-sighted,  fully  con- 
scious of  ends  and  means.  The  accompanying  diagram  may 
assist  in  showing  the  identity  of  play  and  work  ends,  and 
also  the  differences  in  relationships. 

The  figure  shows  four  things,  A,  B,  C,  and  D,  all  obviously 
involved  in  the  preparation  for,  and  performance  of,  re- 


THE  WORK-LEVEL 


19 


sponsible  activities.  Play  is  conscious  of  only  the  first;  but 
this  really  looks  to  the  second;  the  second  is  involved  in  the 
third;  and  the  third  then  produces  the  fourth.  As  indicated 


PLAY 


WORK 


General  Exercise 
of  Powers 

(UsuaHy 

ple&surable) 


Developmental 

Results  -  Power 

to  Think.  Feel 

and  Act 


Putting  One's 

Powers  to  Work : 

Work -Activities 

(Feeling  element 

disregarded) 


The  Fruits 

of 

Labor 


A  B  C  D 

Fig.  1.  To  represent  the  relations  of  play-activities  and  work-activities 

to  education  and  to  each  other. 


ivlduars 


by  following  the  arrows,  the  play,  mthout  the  indiviauai  s 
knowing  it,  is  leading  him  toward  the  fruits  of  serious  labors. 
But  since  he  does  not  see  the  ends,  there  is  no  feeUng  of  *- 
responsibiUty. 

Work-activity  differs  in  that  it  looks  consciously  to  all  of 
the  factors.  It  is  conscious  primarily  of  the  fruits  of  the 
labors.  Here  is  where  the  fundamental  interest  lies.  This 
casts  a  derived  interest  back  over  the  other  factors  since  they 
are  prerequisites.  The  worker,  while  in  training,  has  a 
double  interest  in  the  work-activities :  the  primary  one  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  they  produce  the  fruits  that  he  is  after;  the 
secondary,  that  they  further  develop  his  powers  to  act, 
lifting  them  to  higher  levels  of  efficiency.  He  is  then  inter- 
ested in  the  general  exercise  of  the  play-level,  not  because 
of  the  pleasures  thereby  derived,  but  because  of  its  value  ^ 
in  developing  the  powers  to  think  and  act. 

The  diagram  shows  the  place  in  the  total  scheme  of  the 
two  levels  of  educational  experience.  A  represents  experi- 
ences of  the  play-level;  C  those  of  the  work-level.  Both  are 
factors  in  developing  the  individual's  work-powers.  A  comes 


J 


go  THE  CURRICULUM 

earlier  and  lays  the  foundations;  and  may  continue  through- 
out life  alongside  or  mingled  with  the  work  for  maintaining 
the  foundations.  C  comes  only  after  one  has  come  to  feel 
actual  responsibility  for  serious  results.  It  is  not  to  he  some- 
thing like  work;  it  must  he  actual  work. 

It  must  be  observed  that  the  work-level  actually  differen- 
tiates into  two,  because  of  the  two  types  of  fruits  to  be 
derived  from  the  work-experiences.  One  may  perform  the 
work-activities  (C)  for  the  sake  of  the  ultimate  results  (D) 
without  consciousness  of  the  educational  effects  (B).  On  the 
other  hand,  one  may,  from  felt  responsibility  for  final  re- 
sults and  consciousness  of  inferiority  of  his  powers,  p)erform 
the  work-activities  for  the  sake  of  the  developmental  re- 
sults (B)  alone.  These  are  as  genuinely  the  fruits  of  the 
labors  as  the  ultimate  objective  results.  There  cannot  be 
felt  responsibility,  however,  for  these  developmental  work- 
results  except  as  it  is  derived  from  a  f eehng  of  responsibility 
for  securing  the  ultimate  results. 

Whether  the  work-experiences,  therefore,  look  toward  sub- 
jective or  objective  fruits,  hoth  interests  and  responsibilities 
relate  primarily  to  the  objective;  and  only  in  derived  form  to  the 
subjective.  The  strength  of  the  derived  interests  and  responsi- 
bilities is  determined  by  the  strength  of  the  primary  ones.  Even 
when  the  developmental  results  are  the  things  primarily  sought 
by  teachers  in  directing  education,  the  students  must  be  aiming 
primarily  at  the  objective  results,  and  only  secondarily  at  the 
prerequisite  developmental  ones. 

An  awakening  education  is  everywhere  coming  to  reahze 
the  need  of  work-activities  as  the  only  possible  normal  method 
of  preparing  for  the  work  of  the  world.  In  the  occupational 
field,  we  are  developing  schools  and  courses  for  trades, 
commerce,  household  occupations,  agriculture,  mining,  etc., 
in  special  schools,  continuation  schools,  and  in  general  high 
schools.    In  the  more  progressive  of  these,  there  is  every- 


THE  WORK-LEVEL  «1 

where  attempt  to  perform  a  real  portion  of  the  world's  work 
as  the  means  of  training.  This  may  be  accomplished  by 
transferring  a  portion  of  the  community's  occupational 
activities  to  the  schools  and  having  the  work  done  there; 
or  by  distributing  the  students  throughout  the  community 
where  they  can  find  their  work-exi>eriences  in  those  situa- 
tions provided  by  the  work-activities  of  the  adult  world* 

Both  plans  are  used.  On  the  one  hand,  vocational  activ- 
ities are  being  transferred  to  the  schools,  and  the  work  done 
there  under  regular  shop  conditions  involving  genuine 
responsibility.  Thus  the  boys  in  the  shops,  instead  of  the 
old-type  manual  training  exercises,  are  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing school  equipment,  furniture,  farming  implements, 
playground  apparatus,  articles  needed  for  Red  Cross  work 
and  for  community  poor-relief,  laboratory  apparatus,  electri- 
cal appliances  for  home  use,  etc.  They  are  also  in  places 
doing  actual  community  printing,  milk-testing,  seed-testing, 
repair-work  on  furniture,  tools,  machines  and  automobiles, 
cement  construction,  building  portable  houses,  garages,  . 
gymnasiums,  playground  pavilions,  etc.  The  girls,  instead  ^ 
of  formal  cooking  exercises,  are  nowadays  more  and  more 
put  to  preparation  of  the  daily  school  luncheon,  home  can- 
ning and  preserving,  sometimes  doing  baking  for  home  use, 
or  even  for  the  general  market.  And  their  sewing  is  the  mak- 
ing of  actual  garments. 

Since  it  is  often  difficult  to  transfer  actual  work-activities  to 
the  schools,  another  method  is  for  the  students  to  go  out  into  ^ 
the  community  where  the  work  is  being  carried  on  by  the 
adult  world  and  there  to  share  in  the  labors  for  training 
purposes.  Although  difficult  enough  to  arrange  and  man- 
age, this  is  often  the  easier  method  of  the  two  because  of  the 
frequent  practical  impossibility  of  transferring  the  actual 
responsibility  to  the  schools.  As  a  result  of  this  recognition 
we  are  substituting  home  gardening  for  training  purposes 


/ 


22  THE  CURRICULUM 

for  the  old  ineffective  school  gardening;  the  home-project 
type  of  agriculture  for  the  school  farm;  and  part-time  work 
in  shops,  stores,  offices,  etc.,  for  mere  drill  exercises  in  school 
shops  and  commercial  rooms. 

In  training  for  citizenship,  also,  practical  activities  are 
being  introduced.  Pupils  are  helping  to  make  the  city  clean, 
sanitary,  and  beautiful;  to  care  for  the  city's  trees  and  shrub- 
bery; to  prevent  flies  and  mosquitoes;  to  protect  the  birds 
and  to  destroy  noxious  insects.  They  are  engaged  in  making 
things  for  school  or  community  use.  Boy  Scouts  at  times 
patrol  dangerous  street-crossings  morning  and  afternoon  to 
protect  the  little  children  going  to  and  from  school.  School 
civic  organizations  are  making  local  surveys  of  community 
conditions  for  responsible  report  to  the  authorities  or  to 
adult  civic  organizations. 

For  practical  hygienic  training,  pupils  are  often  made  re- 
sponsible for  some  portion  of  the  school  ventilation,  building 
cleanliness  and  sanitation,  the  regulation  of  temperature, 
humidity,  and  sunlight.  Through  the  school  medical  depart- 
ment and  through  giving  credit  for  home  work,  children  are 
stimulated  to  outside  practical  hygienic  activities:  home 
ventilation  and  sanitation,  cleansing  the  teeth,  rational 
choice  of  foods,  regulation  of  sleeping  conditions  and  hours, 
adjustment  of  exercise  to  needs,  care  of  the  eyes,  etc. 

In  the  pupiFs  language,  also,  we  are  introducing  the  work- 
motive  of  felt  responsibility.  Pupils  are  brought  to  aim  at 
social  results  that  for  attainment  require  a  correct  and  ef- 
fective type  of  language.  This  compels  them  to  see  their 
language  as  a  work-activity  employed  for  getting  results. 
Responsibility  for  ends  then  impels  them  to  watchfulness  and 
effort  in  organizing  their  thought,  in  paragraph  and  sen- 
tence construction,  in  choice  of  words,  pronunciation,  spell- 
ing, handwriting,  etc.  They  are  given  the  opportunities  in 
problem-solving,  oral  reports,  written  reports,  letters,  news 


THE  WORK-LEVEL  23 

items,  communications  to  civic  organizations,  applications 
for  position,  debates,  social-club  activities,  etc. 

But  after  enumerating  all  of  these  things  we  must  con- 
fess that  professional  vision  is  far  in  advance  of  professional 
practice.  For  really,  except  for  the  language  field,  taking 
schools  the  country  over,  there  is  not  much  training  experi- 
ence of  genuine  work-type,  the  criterion  being  felt  respon- 
sibility for  serious  results.  Even  trade-school  experiences  are 
most  often  exercises  in  isolation  from  the  world's  actual  work. 
Far  more  is  this  the  case  with  courses  bearing  vocational 
names  in  the  general  schools;  and  with  training  for  citizen- 
ship, hygiene,  and  sanitation.  The  list  of  things  being  done 
somewhere  in  the  country  is  very  long;  but  it  is  a  rare  school 
system  that  has  found  a  way  so  to  share  in  community  work- 
responsibility  as  to  secure  a  sufficient  portion  of  actual  work- 
experience  for  training  purposes. 

There  is  insufficient  realization  of  the  need  or  the  legit- 
imacy for  public  education  of  actual  work-experiences. 
Even  yet  our  schools  appear  to  be  well-named  from  the  old 
Greek  word  schoUy  meaning  leisure.  Li  the  main,  education 
in  grammar  grades,  high  school,  and  college  of  liberal  arts 

—  we  except  the  mastery  of  the  school  arts  in  the  elementary 
school  and  the  training  in  professional  and  technical  schools 

—  is  yet  a  life  of  leisure.  Teachers  are  often  able  to  prevent 
students'  enjoying  it;  but  that  does  not  make  the  activity 
an  organic  portion  tA^e  world's  work,  which  is  set  aside  for 
training  youth  in  the  processes  of  that  work. 

In  technological  and  professional  schools  we  have  long 
recognized  the  need  of  work-activities.  Young  physicians 
in  training  are  helpers  in  hospitals;  engineering  students  have 
field  and  shop  work;  agricultural  students,  work  on  the 
school  farm;  but  even  in  these  schools  the  amount  of  work- 
experience  is  usually  felt  to  be  inadequate.  This  is  revealed 
by  such  a  movement  as  that  in  the  University  of  Cincinnati, 


84  THE  CURRICULUM 

where  the  students  in  mechanical  engineering  have  been  given 
opportunity  to  work  half-time  in  manufacturing  establish- 
ments of  the  city,  bearing  actual  responsibilities  and  receiv- 
ing wages  for  their  work.  This  is  to  provide  work-experience 
J    that  is  genuine  in  character  and  adequate  in  quantity. 

The  need  of  work  for  training  has  long  been  understood 
by  the  skilled  trades.  The  apprenticeship  system  trained 
through  experiences  of  the  work-type.  The  recent  agita- 
tion for  vocational  training  in  public  schools  is  due,  not  to  a 
new  need,  but  to  new  conditions.  The  apprenticeship  sys- 
tem, never  very  efficient,  has  broken  down  in  the  face  of 
complicated  conditions.  Public  education  is  coming  to  the 
rescue.  But  even  though  we  organize  schools  for  the  purpose, 
we  must  no  less  than  in  the  old  days  include  actual  work- 
experience.  Indeed,  we  must  now  have  a  greater  quantity 
of  responsible  work  than  was  provided  by  the  old  apprentice- 
ship system,  because  of  the  greater  present  complexity 
of  work  and  of  the  higher  levels  of  efficiency  to  be  reached. 
And  it  must  be  not  less  real  than  the  old. 

Finding  work-experience  for  training  presented  no  diffi- 
culty to  the  apprenticeship  system.  It  had  little  else  to  pro- 
vide. But  that  is  just  the  thing  that  has  been  most  absent 
from  public  education.  Schools  have  been  places  of  leisure 
occupations;  not  places  where  the  world's  work  is  being  per- 
formed. They  can  provide  any  amount  of  experience  on  the 
play-level.  But  they  are  not  in  command  of  the  world's 
work-activities,  whether  production,  distribution,  civic  regu- 
lation, community  sanitation,  or  other.  In  their  traditional 
form  they  are  therefore  not  in  a  position  to  provide  much 
training  on  the  work-level.  Hence,  education  requires  a  pro- 
found transformation  before  it  is  able  to  take  adequate  care 
of  work-experience  as  training  for  work.  Schools  must  be- 
come sharers  in  the  world's  work  of  every  kind  by  way  of 
finding  the  only  possible  training  opportunities. 


THE  WORK-LEVEL  25 

Experiences  of  the  work-type  may  well  begin  in  a  small 
way  even  in  kindergarten  and  primary  grades.  The  expan- 
sion of  the  pupils'  understanding  of  ends  and  means  will  be 
gradual  up  through  the  grades.  It  ought  to  be  fairly  full  by 
the  later  years  of  the  high  school  —  in  spite  of  present  usual 
practices  to  the  contrary.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  it  should  be  dominant  on  the  college  level —  again 
in  spite  of  current  contrary  practices.  The  academic  tend- 
ency has  been  to  delay  educational  activities  of  the  work- 
type.  They  have  been  withheld  from  college  students  until 
the  professional  schools  have  been  reached;  and  from  most 
high-school  students  until  they  reach  technical  schools,  or 
the  school  of  the  world's  work.  This  is  the  way  of  ease  and 
economy;  but  the  world  is  rapidly  coming  to  think  it  a 
mistake. 


/ 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  PLACE  OF  IDEAS  IN  WORK-EXPERIENCE 

Even  the  crude  activities  of  the  past  were  directed  by 
ideas.  The  fanner  in  his  fields,  the  machinist  at  his  lathe, 
the  housewife  at  her  cooking,  the  citizen  in  arriving  at  judg- 
ments of  public  affairs,  or  in  staving  off  disease,  —  all  con- 
sidered the  conditions  before  them,  and  applied  the  means 
and  processes  that  appeared  to  them  the  most  rational.  But 
they  lacked  accurate  scientific  knowledge  of  the  factors  in- 
volved. The  ideas  that  they  put  to  work  were  crude;  and 
that  is  why.  their  labors  were  crude  and  inefficient.  The 
thought  or  subjective  part  of  the  work  is  the  work  essen- 
tially. One  indispensable  thing  for  making  work  efficient  is 
a  full  supply  of  accurate  scientific  information  concerning 
all  the  factors.  The  second  thing  is  a  correct  performance  of 
the  ideational  portion  of  the  practical  work.  Let  us  begin 
with  the  latter  and  call  it 

The  antecedent  performance 

The  practical  performance  of  any  task  divides  itself  natu- 
rally into  two  parts.  First,  there  is  the  planning  of  the 
work:  making  decisions  as  to  exact  objectives  and  as  to  the 
specific  materials  and  processes  ^to  be  employed.  This  task 
involves  performance  in  imagination  of  the  entirfe  labor  from 
incipiency  to  finished  product.  It  involves  marshaling  all 
of  one*s  science  relative  to  both  objectives  and  processes; 
and  drawing  plans  as  dictated  by  the  science.  One  must  also 
test  out  in  imagination  each  step  in  the  series  to  see  that 
everything  fits  into  everything  else,  and  that  there  is  no 
contradictioij,  interference,  or  other  obstacle. 

Any  complete  task  will  serve  to  illustrate.   Let  us  take 


PLACE  OF  IDEAS  IN  WORK-EXPERIENCE        27 

the  case  of  the  boy  in  the  machine-shop  who  sets  out  to  con- 
struct a  gas-engine.  He  first  constructs  it  in  his  imagination. 
This  antecedent  construction  involves  all  of  the  parts,  sizes, 
designs,  and  relations.  In  this  way,  without  any  risk  or 
waste  of  materials,  he  may  construct  it  over  and  over  again, 
to  see  that  there  are  no  mistakes,  no  interference  of  parts, 
and  no  insurmountable  diflSculties.  He  may  construct  it  in 
many  ways,  using  different  designs,  sizes  of  parts,  or  pro- 
portions; and  he  may  test  out  each  design  in  order  to  deter- 
mine the  working  plan  that  seems  best.  For  these  antece- 
dent labors,  he  must  mobilize  all  of  his  science  and  put  it 
to  work  both  in  the  planning  and  the  testing.  His  thought 
may  be  concentrated  into  a  few  hours  or  distributed  over 
months.  But  when  this  antecedent  construction  and  testing 
are  satisfactorily  accomplished  and  decision  made,  the  more 
fundamental  portion  of  the  work  is  done.  There  remains 
the  objectification  of  his  plans.  This  is  not  mere  mechan- 
ical registration  of  his  decisions.  Back  of  his  hands,  his 
thought  is  still  busy  directing,  guiding,  and  supervising. 
His  hands  are  the  tools  of  his  intellect.  Such  manual  labors,  ^ 

before  being  mechanized  into  habit,  —  a  later  process, ^ 

are  essentially  intellectual  labors. 

This  must  be  emphasized  because  of  the  frequent  tend-  \ 
ency  in  the  training  to  commit  one  or  the  other  of  two   \ 
fundamental  errors.   One  is  to  leave  out  a  large  portion  of  ^ 
the  ideational  element,  by  giving  ready-made  plans  to  the    | 
students  which  they  are  simply  to  follow:  shoj)-manuals,    \^ 
books  of  recipes,  blue-print  plans,  ready-made  patterns, 
detailed  directions.  In  such  case  pupils  may  get  practically 
no  vision  of  the  controlling  science,  and  are  not  even  put- 
ting second-hand  ideas  to  work.    They  may  get  nothing 
more  than  ideas  of  mechanical  manipulation  without  any 
insight  into  the  reasons  for  the  processes.    As  training 
experience,  it  is  barren  and  ineffective. 


38  THE  CUEBICULUM 


/ 


The  opposite  error  is  the  attempt  to  teach  the  science 
without  any  relation  to  the  work-situations.  This  no  more 
than  the  other  is  putting  ideas  to  work;  it  is  therefore  not 
intellectual  work-experience.  It  may  accomplish  much  as 
intellectual  play.  Practical  experience  proves  that  it  lays  a 
good  foundation  for  later  actual  work-training,  —  as  where 
the  man  trained  in  "pure"  science  goes  into  practical  in- 
dustry, and  rapidly  gets  his  next  level  of  training.  We  do 
not  deny  that  the  play-level  provides  an  excellent  founda- 
tion for  training  of  the  work-type;  we  have  everywhere 
affirmed  it.  But  it  is  not  training  on  the  work-level.  And 
in  the  degree  in  which  the  latter  is  necessary,  the  experience 
is  incomplete,  inefficient,  unfocused,  fails  to  provide  work- 
valuations,  work-habits,  attitudes,  and  sense  of  responsi- 
bility. As  a  method  of  training  for  serious  duties,  it  too  is 
ineffective. 

We  must  point  out  an  important  difference  between  the 
antecedent  or  subjective  performance  of  the  act  and  the 
later  objective  performance.  In  the  former,  one  draws  on 
all  his  ideas  that  are  in  any  way  related  to  the  task  in  hand. 
If  he  has  abundant  ideas  and  a  fertile  imagination,  he  may 
be  brought  into  contact  with  about  every  important  thing 
in  the  field.  He  comes  to  know  the  science  and  properly  to 
value  it,  as  he  thus  chooses  the  things  that  can  serve  his 
purposes  and  rejects  those  that  are  of  no  service.  The  plan- 
ning, the  antecedent  performance  of  the  task,  is,  therefore, 
from  an  educational  point  of  view,  the  most  important 
part  of  it.  But  it  cannot  have  vitality  for  education  unless 
it  is  really  antecedent  to  intended  action;  unless  it  is  an 
organic  portion  of  a  total  act  of  which  the  outward  perform- 
ance is  but  the  culminating  portion. 

On  the  other  hand,  after  decisions  are  made,  plans  drawn, 
and  only  execution  remaining,  then  one's  mental  life  is 
much  narrowed.   It  is  concerned  intensively  with  the  one 


PLACE  OF  IDEAS  IN  WORK-EXPERIENCE        29 

design  that  has  been  decided  upon,  the  one  set  of  materials 
and  methods.  This  culminating  activity  has  many  educa-  • 
tional  values :  it  gives  motive  and  substantiality  to  the  whole^ 
process;  it  gives  depth  to  one's  understanding  and  appreci- 
ations; it  confers  operative  skill.  But  it  cannot  be  compared 
with  the  antecedent  labors  for  giving  width  of  intellectual 
vision. 

The  jmpil  musty  therefore,  not  be  robbed  of  the  antecedent 
performance  by  having  the  finished  plans  prescribed  by  the 
teacher  or  by  a  class  manual. 

The  antecedent  performance  possesses  another  important 
value.  Novices-jvill  not  acquire  a  sense  of  responsibihty 
unless  they  an^m^^  to  take  the  initiative,  to  make  plans 
and  decisioij^for  themselves,  and  to  bear  the  responsibility 
of  making  me  plans  successful.  But  with  novices,  this  in- 
mispkes,  waste  of  materials,  and  losses.  Since  pen- 
Ln  enforce  responsibility,  and  since  loss  is  the 
lalty  of  mistakes,  serious  waste  appears  to  be  the 
price  of  initiative  and  responsibility,  —  if  they  are  to  be 
real,  and  not  merely  make-believe. 

We  have  a  way  out  of  the  diflSculty  as  we  distinguish  be- 
tween antecedent  and  culminating  performance;  and  as  we 
develop  educational  technique  appropriate  to  the  two. 
Full  and  complete  initiative  can  be  given  students  for  the  ante- 
cedent performance  of  the  action.  Then,  before  the  steps 
planned  are  actually  taken,  they  can  be  reviewed,  step  by 
step,  as  frequently  as  necessary  by  the  student  by  way  of 
seeing  that  no  mistake  is  involved.  Plans  can  be  taken  up 
in  class  discussion,  and  tried  out  in  the  critical  testing  imagi- 
nation of  teacher  and  pupils.  Serious  defects  will  thus  be 
discovered.  Mistakes  can  be  seen  before  they  are  made 
actual.  Losses  can  be  realized,  and  the  penalty  enforced  in 
imagination  sufficiently  to  restrain  wrong  action.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  is  the  way  Nature  enforces  her  penalties 


/ 


80  THE  CURRICULUM 

most  of  the  time  in  the  case  of  the  successful  man.  He  is 
successful  because  he  anticipates  mistakes  and  corrects 
them  before  they  are  made.  The  unsuccessful  man  is  the 
one  of  narrower  vision  and  duller  imagination  who  does 
not  see  his  mistakes  until  he  is  injured  or  crushed  beneath 
them.  "Experience  is  the  best  teacher."  But  experience  in 
anticipating  mistakes  and  correcting  them  before  they  are 
made  is  a  better  teacher  than  loss  and  injury.  The  plan 
demands  full  development  of  the  technique  of  antecedent 
performance. 

The  technical  information . 

On  the  work-level,  the  task  to  be  performed  is  central; 
and  the  science  is  organized  about  it.  A  boy,  for  example, 
in  the  school  shop  wishes  to  construct  and  operate  a  tele- 
graphic apparatus.  This  ambition  will  serve  as  the  center 
of  the  science  training.  He  will  be  motivate<y|^fl^^M^ 
information  concerning  batteries,  wiring,  elect^HUBB^ 
making  and  breaking  of  circuits,  etc.  He  will  learn  just  the 
things  that  he  needs  for  the  task  in  hand;  and  nothing  more 
at  the  time.  Through  using  his  ideas  in  the  planning  and  in 
the  actual  construction  he  comes  to  realize  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  the  various  facts.  The  derived  interest  aroused  is 
for  most  individuals  more  potent  than  the  native  interest 
in  the  abstract  science  facts  and  principles.  For  this  reason 
the  knowledge  is  more  effectively  driven  home  and  remem- 
bered. 

,  There  is  a  strong  drift  in  public  education  toward  this 
project-method  of  organization.  The  school  corn  clubs,  for 
example,  assemble  all  possible  information  relative  to  the 
growth  of  com  and  use  it  for  the  control  of  practical  pro- 
cedure. Children  engaged  in  an  anti-mosquito  campaign 
assemble  just  the  entomological,  bacteriological,  and  other 
ioformatioQ  needed  in  their  labors,  rejecting  for  the  moment 


PLACE  OF  IDEAS  IN  WORK-EXPERIENCE        SI 

all  irrelevant  scientific  information.  The  tree-protecting 
league  gathers  all  p)ossible  facts  concerning  the  species  of 
trees  attacked  by  insects,  fungi,  etc.,  together  with  the 
scientific  information  needed  for  combating  the  destructive 
influences.  They  reject  for  the  time  all  botanical  or  ento- 
mological information  that  has  no  bearing  on  the  problem 
in  hand.  In  weeding  out  the  grammatical  mistakes  made 
by  children  in  their  speech,  the  grammatical  information  is 
assembled  that  relates  to  the  specific  mistakes  found;  all 
other  grammatical  facts  are  passed  by  as  irrelevant.  In 
brief,  one  learns  the  things  needed  for  directing  action  in 
connection  with  the  situations  in  which  the  action  is  to  take 
place,  and  just  previous  to  the  drawing-up  of  the  plans. 
Only  under  such  circumstances  can  knowledge  properly 
reveal  its  significance,  be  rightly  focused  upon  human 
affairs,  or  be  normally  assimilated.  Knowing  and  doing 
should  grow  up  together. 

In  spite  of  these  virtues,  the  project-method  as  a  mode  of 
teaching  science  is  not  always  in  good  repute.  This  is  not 
due  to  any  inherent  defect  in  the  method  —  when  it  is 
complete.  It  is  by  far  the  most  complicated  method;  and 
differs  most  from  familiar  traditional  ones.  It  is  not,  there- 
fore, surprising  that  teachers  often  develop  an  incomplete 
and  ineffective  form  of  the  method.  Whenever  a  training 
task  involves  practical  performance,  this  is  so  visible, 
tangible,  and  solid  to  sense  that  it  often  comes  to  be  con- 
ceived as  being  the  whole  thing.  The  teacher  attempts  to 
get  the  pupils  in  the  mest  economical  and  expeditious  way 
to  perform  the  practical  actions  by  way  of  securing  the  re- 
sults. The  teachers,  therefore,  often  do  the  thinking,  draw 
up  the  plans,  and  prescribe  procedure  for  the  students.  This 
is  exceedingly  common  in  sewing-rooms,  kitchens,  and  shops. 
So  far  as  the  pupils'  experience  is  concerned,  the  intellectual 
element  is  largely  dropped  out.  In  such  case  the  pupils  do 


^y 


/ 


82  THE  CURRICULUM 

not  themselves  perform  the  most  vital  portion  of  the  work. 
The  part  given  over  to  them  does  not  require  that  they 
master  the  science  involved  for  the  sake  of  planning  and 
self-guidance.  ** 

The  technique  of  the  project-method  requires  that  in  the 
teaching  the  major  attention  be  given  to  what  we  have 
called  the  antecedent  performance  rather  than  to  the 
objective  or  culminating  performance.  It  also  requires  that 
the  antecedent  activities  be  performed  by  the  students. 

In  the  use  of  this  method  the  necessary  ideas  are  to  be 
got  from  at  least  three  places.  To  make  the  matters  clear 
let  us  resume  our  illustration  of  the  gas-engine :  — 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  boy,  motivated  by  intention  to 
make  the  engine,  will  observe  such  engines  in  as  great  vari- 
ety as  available.  For  fullness  of  understanding,  he  should 
operate  them,  and  see  the  workings  of  the  parts.  He  should 
take  them  to  pieces,  and  reassemble  them.  This  experience 
brings  him  into  direct  contact  with  all  the  science  realities 
involved  —  the  first  vital  step  in  learning  science.  After  he 
has  thus  experienced  the  realities,  he  is  prepared  to  isolate 
them,  verbalize  them,  and  appreciate  quantitative  rela- 
tions. The  situation  does  not  contain  all  that  he  needs  for 
these  latter  purposes,  and  certainly  not  enough  for  full 
scientific  generalizations;  but  the  things  it  contains  he  needs 
as  part  of  the  total  process. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  he  will  read  descriptions,  pictures, 
drawings,  and  diagrams  of  engines  that  he  has  not  seen,  by 
way  of  extending  his  vision  of  possibility.  If  he  can  have 
direct  access  to  two  or  three  types  of  actual  engines,  he  will 
have  an  apperception-alphabet  that  will  enable  him  easily 
and  quickly  through  reading  to  examine  another  ten  or 
twenty  types.  It  would  be  well  in  such  case  to  begin  with 
the  historically  earliest  and  simplest  types,  noting  both  the 
structures  and  the  science  involved;  then  to  trace  the 


PLACE  OF  IDEAS  IN  WORK-EXPERIENCE ,       S3 

changes  that  have  been  made  by  way  of  improvement  and 
of  adaptation  to  special  needs,  and  reasons  for  these  changes. 
When  this  experience  is  added,  he  is  provided  with  a  better 
basis  for  generalizations.  But  probably  even  this  is  not 
enough.  .  / 

3.  For  illustrating  the  third  step,  let  us  isolate  the  single 
feature  of  the  ignition  system.  Instead  of  further  widening 
his  understanding  of  the  electrical  science  involved  by  look- 
ing to  still  more  engines,  —  there  is  a  limit  beyond  which 
little  or  nothing  new  appears,  —  he  might  look  off  and  view 
the  wide  field  of  electricity  in  general  and  its  applications 
in  general.  He  is  still  motivated,  let  us  say,  by  his  project 
of  developing  an  improved  type  of  ignition  system.  He 
reads  a  full  treatise  on  electricity  and  its  applications.  Where 
his  apperception  is  defective,  he  tries  things  out  in  the  labo- 
ratory. But,  though  taking  a  full  survey  of  the  "pure" 
science,  he  is  only  sorting  over  the  possibilities  of  the  field, 
locating  suggestions,  trying  to  find  the  ideas  that  he  can 
put  to  work.  This  pure-science  overview  is  the  ultimate 
level  of  project-science  experience. 

While  in  a  sense  this  is  "pure "  science,  it  is  very  different 
from  the  usual  non-functional  type.  Here  the  primary 
thing  in  the  student's  consciousness  is  the  project,  the  piece 
of  work  to  be  done;  not  the  satisfaction  of  intellectual  inter- 
ests. He  examines  every  fact  and  principle  in  relation  to 
his  practical  problem,  and  not  merely  as  a  field  of  intel- 
lectual sight-seeing.  The  two  types  of  experience  differ  as 
play  differs  from  work. 


CHAPTER  V 

WHERE  EDUCATION  CAN  BE  ACCOMPLISHED 

Educational  experiences  must  take  place  where  they 
can  be  normal.  Frequently  this  is  not  at  the  schools. 

The  nature  of  the  problem  can  be  made  clear  by  illustra- 
tions of  varying  character.  Let  us  take  first  the  case  of  the 
training  of  girls  in  sewing.  The  practical  activities  will 
transfer  to  the  schools  with  ease.  The  continuing  need  of 
garments  and  other  household  necessities  involving  needle- 
work gives  rise  to  the  normal  responsibilities.  While  the 
activities  may  take  place  in  the  individual  homes,  the 
teacher  going  about  from  home  to  home  to  supervise  it,  the 
plan  is  not  administratively  economical.  The  schools  can 
easily  provide  the  simple  appliances  needed.  The  materials 
can  be  carried  to  the  schools  as  easily  as  books,  and  the 
practical  labors  performed  there  as  normally  as  at  home. 
When  tasks  can  be  so  transferred  without  loss  of  normal 
responsibility,  this  is  administratively  desirable. 

The  training  in  home  cooking  will  not  transfer  with  any 
such  ease.  Food  materials  are  bulky,  and  not  easily  carried 
to  the  school  for  the  work,  nor  easily  returned  to  the  homes. 
They  are  perishable,  easily  subject  to  contamination  in 
transit,  and  often  should  be  served  as  soon  as  preparation 
is  complete.  Most  of  the  practical  activities  therefore  must 
take  place  in  the  home  kitchen,  not  in  the  school  kitchen. 
For  supervising  it,  teachers  need  to  be  in  intimate  contact 
with  the  homes.  A  few  such  cooking  tasks  can  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  schools  at  times,  as  for  example,  certain  special 
baking,  a  portion  of  the  canning,  preserving,  jelly-making, 
etc.  These  can  occasionally  be  performed  at  the  school  and 
the  product  then  returned  to  the  homes  of  the  girls. 


y 


WHERE  EDUCATION  CAN  BE  ACCOMPLISHED    35 

Owing  to  the  diflSculty  of  providing  normal  responsibili- 
ties, and  therefore  normal  training  conditions,  many 
schools  at  present  are  using  a  substitute.  The  preparation 
of  the  school  luncheon  is  used  to  provide  responsible  train- 
ing conditions.  The  girls  in  relays  provide  daily  one  or  two 
dishes  for  the  luncheon.  In  other  cases  they  prepare  lunch- 
eons for  the  teachers,  regularly  or  occasionally.  In  a  few 
schools  they  even  go  so  far  as  to  provide  an  entire  noonday 
meal  each  day  including  a  dozen  or  more  dishes,  served 
cafeteria-fashion  for  several  hundred  students.  When  a 
needed  activity  will  not  transfer,  it  is  thus  possible  occa- 
sionally to  find  a  sufficient  substitute  that  is  not  mere  make- 
beUeve. 

Recognition  of  the  necessity  of  normal  responsibility  as 
a  factor  of  educational  situations  is  a  relatively  recent  devel- 
opment. Not  many  years  ago  it  was  felt,  for  example,  that 
training  in  gardening  could  be  given  in  our  little  school 
gardens.  Recently  it  has  been  discovered  that  in  so  far  as 
the  school  garden  omits  normal  responsibility  for  securing 
actual  results  that  are  to  be  used  in  serious  ways,  it  is  but  a 
play-garden.  As  such  it  is  of  value  for  preliminary  training 
of  the  play-type.  It  can  introduce  the  subject  and  give 
some  beginning  ideas  as  to  gardening;  and  it  can  serve  for 
demonstration  and  experimental  procedure;  but  it  is  in- 
sufficient for  serious  training.  It  is  being  discovered  that 
gardening  responsibility  transfers  to  the  school  only  with 
great  difficulty,  and  that  therefore  the  training  should  take 
place  in  the  home  gardens  with  the  teacher  going  about 
from  home  to  home  to  supervise  the  work.  The  training 
needs  to  be  taken  care  of  where  the  work  can  be  normal,  not^ 
where  it  may  be  most  convenient  for  teachers. 

Formerly  we  thought  we  could  train  machinists  and  car- 
penters in  our  high-school  manual-training  shops.  Now  we 
see  that  our  shops  of  the  usual  type  provide  play-situations. 


86  THE  CURRICULUM 

not  work-situations.  The  constructive  instinct  is  strong  in 
boys,  and  whether  in  school  or  not  their  play  inclines  them 
to  constructive  activities.  The  usual  school  shop  offers 
these  instincts  a  favorable  outlet.  This  is  of  large  value. 
Constructive  play,  distributed  from  kindergarten  to  high 
school,  is  a  highly  profitable  training  of  the  preliminary 
type.  It  introduces  novices  to  the  field  of  serious  mechanical 
occupations.  It  can  carry  them  but  a  portion  of  the  way, 
however.  After  such  introduction  the  thing  needed  is  re- 
sponsible work,  where  the  boy  can  participate  in  serious 
mechanical  activities,  under  actual  working  conditions. 
The  practical  responsible  aspects  of  shop  training  will 
transfer  to  the  schools  under  present  conditions  only  with 
great  difficulty.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  organize  in  any 
sufficient  way  at  our  schools  actual  machine-shop  produc- 
tion or  the  actual  building  of  houses.  At  the  school  only 
preliminary,  laboratory,  and  demonstration  portions  can 
be  taken  care  of.  The  culminating  portions  of  the  educative 
process  are  to  be  found  out  in  the  world  of  responsible  in- 
dustry. To  that  must  the  students  be  sent  for  the  later 
levels  of  their  mechanical  training. 

Our  schools  have  tried  to  train  for  health  by  imparting 
textbook  and  lecture  information  concerning  matters  of 
anatomy,  physiology,  and  hygiene.  If  the  children  got  the 
facts  in  mind  well  enough  to  recite  and  pass  the  examina- 
tions, they  were  considered  educated.  Application  of  the 
information  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  thing  to  be  done  by 
the  pupils  only  aftef  the  examination  has  attested  the  com- 
pleteness of  their  education.  The  application  has  been  looked 
upon  as  being  in  no  sense  a  part  of  the  training  process; 
certainly  not  a  part  of  the  school's  responsibility.  Recently 
we  are  becoming  better  informed.  We  are  discovering  that 
the  application  of  the  information  is  the  culminating  process 
of  education;  that  without  the  processes  in  which  the  knowl- 


WHERE  EDUCATION  CAN  BE  ACCOMPLISHED    37 

• 

edge  is  put  to  work,  education  is  only  half  done.  We  are 
coming  to  see  that  education  in  hygiene  is  accomplished, 
not  in  the  moments  of  acquiring  the  preliminary  technical 
information  at  the  school,  but  in  the  moments  of  using  that  ^ 
information  in  the  control  of  conduct;  and  in  the  recurring 
moments  of  such  actual  use  of  knowledge  while  health  habits  are 
being  fixed.  The  training  is  accomplished  as  one  puts  his 
ideas  to  work  in  the  ventilation  of  his  sleeping-room ;  in  his 
choice  of  food;  in  caring  for  his  teeth;  in  keeping  up  his  mus- 
cular strength  and  tone,  in  work  and  play;  in  evading 
bacterial  infection;  and  in  the  countless  other  matters  in  ^ 
which  he  is  called  upon_<o  act 

Most  of  these  hygienic  training  activities  will  not  transfer 
to  the  school.  The  training  has  to  be  accomplished  where 
the  activity  can  take  place  normally.  The  school  can  give 
necessary  antecedent  information;  it  can  aid  students  in 
forming  judgments  as  to  what  to  do;  it  can  through  teachers 
and  school  nurses  cooperate  with  parents  in  stimulating 
and  supervising  the  activities  of  the  students;  but  in  most 
cases  the  self -directed  activities  that  round  out  and  fix  the 
training  cannot  be  transferred  to  the  schools.  The  home- 
visiting  health-nurse  in  continual  contact  with  the  home 
situations  in  which  the  pupils  live  is  the  one  ideally  situated 
for  supervising  the  culminating  aspects  of  the  training. 

When  in  later  chapters  we  look  at  the  responsible  activi- 
ties involved  in  training  for  citizenship,  for  leisure  occupa- 
tions, for  parenthood,  for  religion,  for  social  intercommuni- 
cation, etc.,  we  shall  discover  that  in  most  fields  of  training 
there  are  some  of  the  culminating  activities  that  transfer 
to  the  schools  with  entire  ease;  that  there  are  others  which 
transfer  with  difficulty;  and  that  there  are  still  others  which 
will  not  transfer  at  all.  It  will  be  found,  too,  that  the  rela- 
tive value  of  any  aspect  of  training  is  in  no  wise  related  to 
the  place  where  it  has  to  be  carried  on.  Very  many  activi- 


38  THE  CURRICULUM 

ties  most  urgently  needed  can  be  transferred  to  the  schools 
only  with  great  difficulty,  or  not  at  all.  Education  is  no  less 
imp>erative,  however,  simply  because  of  this  difficulty  or 
impossibility  of  transfer.  Our  profession  must  find  ways  of 
going  out  to  the  activities  that  cannot  be  brought  to  the 
schools.  This  is  now  being  done  in  part-time  work,  in  giving 
credit  for  home  activities,  and  in  school-club  work  of  various 
kinds. 

A  good  example  comes  from  Iowa.  The  bulletin  of  the 
Iowa  Home- Work  School-Credit  Club  enumerates  three 
hundred  and  thirty  home  activities  of  wide  diversity  for 
which  credit  is  given.  It  is  unfortunate  that  space  precludes 
the  presentation  of  the  entire  list;  but  the  following  table 
shows  the  number  of  activities  of  each  class  for  which  credit 
is  given:  — 

Number  of 
activities 
Agricultural  activities:  — 

Plants 45 

Animals 18 

Agricultural  construction  and  farm  economics ....  21 
Home  economics:  — 

Sewing 23 

Cooking 29 

Laundry 17 

Housekeeping 18 

General  construction,  repairs,  and  other  work  with 

tools 59 

Home  duties  of  boys  and  girls 9 

Health  activities 20 

Self-culture  (home  reading,  music,  etc.) 16 

Helping  the  aged,  the  weak,  the  ill,  etc 11 

Business  practice 6 

Thrift  activities 4 

Civic  activities 10 

Club  projects 24 

Total ! 330 


WHERE  EDUCATION  CAN  BE  ACCOMPLISHED    39 

Naturally  such  non-transferable  activities  require  direc- 
tion and  supervision.  Much  of  this  is  to  be  taken  care  of  at 
the  school  building  in  the  antecedent  planning  for  the  activi- 
ties. This  involves  the  previous  mastery  of  the  necessary 
information.  So  far  as  possible  the  children  will  do  their 
own  planning  and  thus  know  what  they  are  about.  If  the 
antecedent  portions  of  the  activity  are  fully  taken  care  of, 
the  need  of  personal  supervision  is  greatly  diminished.  But 
pupils  need  leadership  and  encouragement.  While  parents 
here  have  a  part  to  perform,  the  major  responsibility  rests 
upon  the  teachers.  It  demands  that  they  mingle  in  the 
community  life  and  come  into  contact  with  their  pupils 
while  the  latter  are  securing  their  educative  experiences. 
As  teachers  educate  for  efficient  performance  of  hfe's  affairs, 
they  must  be  a  portion  of  the  active  world  of  affairs.  In  the 
degree  in  which  the  experience  itself  cannot  be  transferred 
to  the  classroom,  in  this  degree  the  teacher  himself  cannot 
be  placed  within  a  classroom  for  directing  the  work. 

The  part-time  school  or  course  is  another  practical  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that,  where  normal  experience  cannot  be^ 
transferred  to  the  school,  the  children  must  be  sent  to  the 
places  where  such  normal  experience  can  be  had.  In  such 
well-known  examples  as  those  of  Cincinnati  or  Fitchburg, 
the  boys  in  the  shop  courses  spend  one  half  of  the  school 
year  in  the  classes,  laboratories,  and  shoj>s  of  the  high  schools 
and  the  other  half  of  the  school  year  in  the  shops  of  the 
city,  doing  real  work  for  wages  under  shop  foremen.  The 
plan  is  worked  out  by  having  two  boys  assigned  to  one  job 
in  the  shop.  Each  boy  works  a  week  in  the  shop  and  a  week 
in  the  school  alternately.  When  one  is  in  the  shop  the 
other  is  in  the  school;  both  are  in  the  shop  on  Saturdays. 

This  part-time  activity  can  be  indefinitely  extended;  and 
the  extension  is  at  present  being  actually  and  rapidly  made. 
The  young  men  in  the  shops  of  high  schools  and  industrial 


40  THE  CURRICULUM 

schools  are  being  used  by  the  educational  authorities  of 
certain  cities  in  taking  care  of  the  repairs  upon  school  build- 
ings and  school  equipment,  under  the  direction  of  responsi- 
ble repair  foremen.  In  a  technical  high  school  recently  vis- 
ited, the  boys  in  the  agricultural  class  had  contracted  with 
the  fruit-growers  of  the  region  roundabout  to  care  for  the 
orchards  for  a  certain  price  per  year.  They  went  out  Satur- 
days, holidays,  vacations,  and  did  the  spraying,  pruning, 
cultivation,  harvesting,  etc.,  under  the  conditions  of  normal 
responsibility.  Arrangements  are  being  made  in  many 
places  whereby  students  in  typewriting,  bookkeeping,  sales- 
manship, advertising,  window-dressing,  etc.,  work  for  a  few 
hours  per  week  or  certain  weeks  during  the  year  on  part- 
time  work  within  commercial  establishments. 

We  discover  here  a  further  administrative  reason  for 

/making  clear  distinction  between  the  antecedent  portion 

/  and  the  objective  portion  of  practical  action.  The  planning 

I  and  all  the  preparation  incident  thereto  can  in  practically 

I   all  cases  be  most  economically  and  effectively  taken  care 

of  at  the  schools.  The  actual  putting  of  ideas  to  work  under 

responsible  conditions  must  be  accomplished  in  the  diverse 

and  scattered  situations  where  those  conditions  obtain. 

Administratively  this  actual  accomplishment  often  presents 

difficult  problems.    In  the  degree,  however,  in  which  the 

antecedent  portion  has  been  adequately  performed,  these 

difficulties  are  minimized.    The  novices  when  they  go  out 

find  themselves  prepared  to  put  the  right  ideas  to  work; 

to  do  the  things  with  confidence;  to  do  them  correctly;  and 

with  little  supervision.  The  world  knows  how  to  use  that 

kind  of  ability. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SCIENTIFIC  METHOD  IN  CURRICULUM-MAKING  . 

The  technique  of  curriculum-making  along  scientific  lines 
has  been  but  Uttle  developed.  The  controlling  purposes  of 
education  have  not  been  sufficiently  particularized.  We 
have  aimed  at  a  vague  culture,  an  ill-defined  discipline^  a 
nebulous  harmonious  development  of  the  individual,  an 
indefinite  moral  character-building,  an  unparticularized 
social  efficiency,  or,  often  enough  nothing  more  than  escape 
from  a  life  of  work.  Often  there  are  no  controlling  purposes; 
the  momentum  of  the  educational  machine  keeps  it  running. 
So  long  as  objectives  are  but  vague  guesses,  or  not  even 
that,  there  can  be  no  demand  for  anything  but  vague  v 
guesses  as  to  means  and  procedure.  But  the  era  of  content-^ 
ment  with  large,  undefined  purposes  is  rapidly  passing.  An 
age  of  science  is  demanding  exactness  and  particularity. 

The  technique  of  scientific  method  is  at  present  being 
developed  for  every  important  aspect  of  education.  Experi- 
mental laboratories  and  schools  are  discovering  accurate 
methods  of  measuring  and  evaluating  different  tvpes  of 
^di]^T^tinnal^j)rocesses.  Bureaus  of  educational  measure- 
ment are  discovering  scientific  methods  of  analyzing  results, 
of  diagnosing  specific  situations,  and  of  prescribing  remedies. 
Scientific  method  is  being  applied  to  the  fields  of  budget^___ 
maj^jjg,  child-accouiiting,  systems  of  gr^di^^  and^yomo- 
^iwia^tc. 

The  curriculum,  however,  is  a  primordial  factor.  If  it  is 
wrongly  drawn  up  on  the  basis  merely  of  giiess  and  personal 
opinion,  all  of  the  science  in  the  world  applied  to  the  factors 
above  enumerated  will  not  make  the  work  efficient.  The 
scientific  task  preceding  all  others  is  the  determination  of 


42  THE  CURRICULUM 

the  curriculum.  For  this  we  need  a  scientific  technique.  At 
pr^^ent  this  is  being  rapidly  developed  in  connection  with 
various  fields  of  training. 
^  The  central  theory  is  simple.  Human  life,  however  varied, 
^  consists  in  the  performance  of  sp)ecific  activities.  Education 
that  prepares  for  life  is  one  that  prepares  definitely  and 
adequately  for  these  specific  activities.  However  numerous 
and  diverse  they  may  be  for  any  social  class,  they  can  be  dis- 
covered. This  requires  only  that  one  go  out  into  the  world 
of  affairs  and  discover  the  particulars  of  which  these  affairs 
consist.  These  will  show  the  abilities,  attitudes,  habits. 
f  appreciations,  and  forms  of  _kTl0^^^^g(LJhat  men  need. 
TPhese'wiirbe  the  objectives  of  the  curriculum.  They  wilF 
be  numerous,  definite,  and  particularized.  The  curriculum 
will  then  be  that  series  of  experiences  which  children  and 
youth  must  have  by  way  of  attaining  those  objectives. 

The  word  curriculum  is  Latin  for  a  race-course^  or  the  race 
itself,  —  a  place  of  deeds,  or  a  series  of  deeds.  As  applied 
to  education,  it  is  that  series  of  things  which  children  and 
youth  must  do  and  experience  by  way  of  developing  abilities 

I  to  do  the  things  well  that  make  up  the  affairs  of  adult  life; 

'Land  to  be  in  all  respects  what  adults  should  be. 

The  developmental  experience^ exist  upon  two  levels.  On 
the  one  hand,  there  is  the  general  experience  of  living  the 
community  life,  without  thought  of  the  training  values.  In 
this  way,  through  participation,  one  gets  much  of  his  edu- 
cation for  participation  in  community  life.  In  many  things 
this  provides  most  of  the  training;  and  in  all  essential  things, 
much  of  it.  But  in  all  fields,  this  incidental  or  undirected 
developmental  experience  leaves  the  training  imperfect.  It 
is  necessary,  therefore,  to  supplement  it  with  the  conscious 
directed  training  of  systematized  education.  The  first  level 
we  shall  call  undirected  training;  and  the  second,  directed 
training. 


CURRICULUM-MAKING 


43 


The  curriculum  may,  therefore,  be  defined  in  two  ways: 
(1)  itis^theentire  range  of  eYpenenoeSj  l>othjimdire£t£d^j 
in  uni'oldmg?  jEe  abiUties  of  the  indi- 


v3ual;  or  (£)  jLisJthfi. series  of  consciSTisIy  directed  training 
experiences  that  the  schools  use  for  coipp^ting  am" 
fecting  the  unToMmeni.  Our  prot'ession  uses  the  term  usu- 
aliy*m  the  "fatter  sense.  But  as  education  is  coming  more 
and  more  to  be  seen  as  a  thing  of  experiences,  and  as  the 
work-  and  play-experiences  of  the  general  community  life 
are  being  more  and  more  utilized,  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  directed  and  imdirected  training  experience  is 
rapidly  disappearing.  Education  must  be  concerned  with 
both,  even  though  it  does  not  direct  both. 

When  the  curriculum  is  defined  as  including  both  di- 
rected and  undirected  experiences,  then  its  objectives  are 
the  total  range  of  human  abilities,  habits,  systems  of  knowl- 
edge, etc.,  that  one  should  possess.  These  will  be  discovered 
by  analytic  survey.  The  curriculum-discoverer  will  first  be 
an  analyst  of  human  nature  and  of  human  afi^airs.  His 
task  at  this  point  is  not  at  all  concerned  Vith  "  the  studies," 
—  later  he  will  draw  up  appropriate  studies  as  means,  but 
he  will  not  analyze  the  tools  to  be  used  in  a  piece  of  work 
as  a  mode  of  discovering  the  objectives  of  that  work.  His 
first  task  rather,  in  ascertaining  the  education  appropriate 
for  any  special  class,  is  to  discover  the  total  range  of  habits, 
skills,  abilities,  forms  of  thought,  valuations,  ambitions, 
etc.,  that  its  members  need  for  the  effective  performance 
of  their  vocational  labors;  likewise,  the  total  range  needed 
for  their  civic  activities;  their  health  activities;  their  recrea- 
tions; their  language;  their  parental,  religious,  and  general 
social  activities.  The  program  of  analysis  will  be  no  narrow 
one.  It  will  be  wide  as  life  itself.  As  it  thus  finds  all  the 
things  that  make  up  the  mosaic  of  full-formed  human  life, 
it  discovers  the  full  range  of  educational  objectives. 


44  THE  CURRICULUM 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many  of  these  objectives 
are  attained  without  conscious  effort,  the  curriculum-dis- 
coverer must  have  all  of  them  before  him  for  his  labors. 
Even  though  the  scholastic  curriculum  will  not  find  it 
necessary  to  aim  at  all  of  them,  it  is  the  function  of  educa- 
tion to  see  that  all  of  them  are  attained.  Only  as  he  looks 
to  the  entire  series  can  he  discover  the  ones  that  require 
conscious  effort.  He  will  be  content  to  let  as  much  as  pos- 
sible be  taken  care  of  through  undirected  experiences.  In- 
deed he  will  strive  for  such  conditions  that  a  maximum 
amount  of  the  training  can  be  so  taken  care  of. 

The  curriculum  of  the  schools  vyill  aim  at  those  objectives 
that  are  not  sufficiently  attained  as  a  result  of  the  general  un- 
directed experience.  This  is  to  recognize  that  the  total  range 
of  specific  educational  objectives  breaks  up  into  two  sets: 
one,  those  arrived  at  through  one's  general  experiences 
without  his  taking  thought  as  to  the  training;  the  other, 
those  that  are  imperfectly  or  not  at  all  attained  through 
such  general  experience.  The  latter  are  revealed,  and  dis- 
tinguished from  the  former,  by  the  presence  of  imperfec- 
tions, errors,  short-comings.  Like  the  symptoms  of  disease, 
these  point  unerringly  to  those  objectives  that  require  the 
systematized  labors  of  directed  training.  Deficiencies  point 
to  the  ends  of  conscious  education.  As  the  specific  objec- 
tives upon  which  education  is  to  be  focused  are  thus  pointed 
out,  we  are  shown  where  the  curriculum  of  the  directed 
training  is  to  be  developed. 

Let  us  illustrate.  One  of  the  most  important  things  in 
which  one  is  to  be  trained  is  the  effective  use  of  the  mother- 
tongue.  It  is  possible  to  analyze  one's  language  activities 
and  find  all  of  the  things  one  must  do  in  effectively  and 
correctly  using  it.  Each  of  these  things  then  becomes  an 
objective  of  the  training.  But  it  is  not  necessary  consciously 
to  train  for  each  of  them.  Let  an  individual  grow  up  in  a 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  45 

cultivated  language-atmosphere,  and  he  will  learn  to  do, 
and  be  sufficiently  practiced  in  doing,  most  of  them,  without 
any  directed  training.  Here  and  there  he  will  make  mis- 
takes. Each  mistake  is  a  call  for  directed  training.  w 

The  curriculum  of  the  directed  training  is  to  he  discovered  in 
the  shortcomings  of  individuals  after  they  have  had  all  that  can 
be  given  by  the  undirected  training. 

This  principle  is  recognized  in  the  recent  work  of  many 
investigators  as  to  the  curriculum  of  grammar.  One  of  the 
earliest  studies  was  that  of  Professor  Charters.^  Under  his 
direction,  the  teachers  of  Kansas  City  undertook  to  dis- 
cover the  errors  made  by  pupils  in  their  oral  and  written 
language.  For  the  oral  errors  the  teachers  carried  notebooks 
for  five  days  of  one  week  and  jotted  down  every  grammatical 
error  which  they  heard  made  by  any  pupil  at  any  time  dur- 
ing the  day.  For  the  errors  in  writing  they  examined  the 
written  work  ctf  the  pupils  for  a  period  of  three  weeks.  They 
discovered  twenty-one  types  of  errors  in  the  oral  speech 
and  twenty-seven  types  in  the  written.  The  oral  errors 
in  the  order  of  their  frequency  were  as  follows:  — 

Per  cent 

1.  Confusion  of  past  tense  and  past  participle 24 

2.  Failure  of  verb  to  agree  with  its  subject  in  number 

and  person 14 

3.  Wrong  verb 12 

4.  Double  negative 11 

5.  Syntactical  redundance 10   • 

6.  Wrong  sentence  form 5 

7.  Confusion  of  adjectives  and  adverbs 4 

8.  Subject  of  verb  not  in  nominative  case 4 

9.  Confusion  of  demonstrative  adjective  with  per- 

sonal pronoun 3 

10.  Predicate  nominative  not  in  nominative  case. ...     2 

11.  First  personal  pronoun  standing  first  in  a  series .     2 

*  Charters,  W.  W.,  and  Miller,  Edith.  A  Course  of  Study  in  Grammar 
hosed  upon  the  Grammatical  Errors  of  School  Children  in  Kansas  Cityt 
Missouri.  University  of  Missouri,  Education  Bulletin,  no.  9. 


46  THE  CURRICULUM 

12.  Wrong  form  of  noun  or  pronoun 2 

13.  Confusion  of  past  and  present  tenses 2 

14.  Object  of  verb  or  preposition  not  in  the  objective 

case 1 

15.  Wrong  part  of  speech  due  to  a  similarity  of  sound  1 

16.  Incorrect  comparison  of  adjectives 1 

17.  Failure  of  the  pronoun  to  agree  with  its  antecedent  0 .  S 

18.  Incorrect  use  of  mood 0.3 

19.  Misplaced  modifier 0.3 

20.  Confusion  of  preposition  and  conjunction 0.2 

21.  Confusion  of  comparatives  and  superlatives 0.1 

Each  error  discovered  is  a  symptom  of  grammatical  igno- 
rance, wrong  habit,  imperfect  valuation,  or  careless  attitude 
toward  one's  language.  The  nature  of  the  deficiency  points 
to  the  abilities  and  dispositions  that  are  to  be  developed  in 
the  child  by  way  of  bringing  about  the  use  of  the  correct 
forms.  Each  grammatical  shortcoming  discovered,  there- 
fore, points  to  a  needed  objective  of  education.  It  points 
to  a  development  of  knowledge  or  attitude  which  the  gen- 
eral undirected  language  experience  has  not  sufficiently 
accomplished;  and  which  must  therefore  be  consciously 
undertaken  by  the  schools. 

Scientific  method  must  consider  both  levels  of  thegram- 
mar  curriculum.^  One  task  is  to  provide  at  the  schooPas 
much  as  possible  of  a  cultivated  language-atmosphere  in 
which  the  children  can  live  and  receive  unconscious  train- 
ing. This  is  really  thejtask_5f_^ajorJmport5Ji^  and  pro- 
vides the  typei^"experience  that  should^ccompKsh  an  ever- 
increasing  proportion  of  the  training.  The  other  task  is  to 
make  children  conscious  of  their  errors,  to  teach  the  gram- 
mar needed  for  correction  or  prevention,  and  to  bring  the 
children  to  put  their  grammatical  knowledge  to  work  in 
eliminating  the  errors.  In  proportion  as  the  other  type  of 
experience  is  increased,  this  conscious  training  will  play  a 
diminishing  idle. 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  47 

In  the  spfilliijg  field,  Ayres,  Jones,  Cook  and  O'Shea,  and 
others  have  been  tabulating  the  words  that  children  and 
adults  use  in  writing  letters,  reports,  compositions,  etc.  In 
this  way  they  have  been  discovering  the  particularized 
objectives  of  training  in  spelling.  But  words  are  of  unequal 
difficulty.  Most  are  learned  in  the  course  of  the  reading  and 
writing  experience  of  the  children  without  much  conscious 
attention  to  the  spelling.  But  here  and  there  are  words 
that  are  not  so  learned.  Investigations,  therefore,  lay  sjje- 
cial  emphasis  upon  the  words  that  are  misspelled.  Each 
misspelled  word  reveals  a  directed-curriculum  task.  Here, 
as  in  the  grammar,  error  is  the  symptom  of  training  need; 
and  the  complete  error-list  points  unerringly  to  the  curricu- 
lum of  conscious  training. 

In  the  YCCatiiiii^l -field,  and  on  the  technical  side  only, 
Indianapolis  has  provided  an  excellent  example  of  method 
of  discovering  the  objectives  of  training.  Investigators, 
without  pre-suppositions  as  to  content  of  vocational  curricu- 
lum, set  out  to  discover  the  major  occupations  of  the  city, 
the  processes  to  be  performed  in  each,  and  the  knowledge, 
habits  and  skills  needed  for  effective  work.  They  talked 
with  expert  workmen;  and  observed  the  work-processes. 
In  their  report,  for  each  occupation,  they  present:  (1)  a  list 
of  tools  and  machines  with  which  a  workman  must  be  skill- 
ful; (2)  a  list  of  the  materials  used  in  the  work  with  which 
workers  need  to  be  familiar;  (3)  a  list  of  items  of  general 
knowledge  needed  concerning  jobs  and  processes;  (4)  the 
kinds  of  mathematical  operations  actually  employed  in  the 
work;  (5)  th6  items  or  portions  of  science  needed  for  control 
of  processes;  (6)  the  elements  of  drawing  and  design  actu- 
ally used  in  the  work;  (7)  the  characteristics  of  the  English 
needed  where  language  is  vitally  involved  in  one's  work,  as 
in  commercial  occupations;  (8)  elements  of  hygiene  needed 
for  keeping  one's  self  up  to  the  physical  standards  demanded 
by  the  work;  and  (9)  the  needed  facts  of  economics. 


48  THE  CURRICULUM 

Many  of  the  things  Hsted  in  such  a  survey  are  learned 
through  incidental  experience.  Others  cannot  be  sufficiently 
learned  in  this  way.  It  is  by  putting  the  workers  to  work, 
whether  adolescent  or  adult,  and  by  noting  the  kinds  of 
shortcomings  and  mistakes  that  show  themselves  when 
training  is  absent  or  deficient,  that  we  can-discoi^fc!£r_ihfi 
/  'IS^jculum  tasks  for  Hirpnfpd  ynf^atinnal  education./ 
\      TrEeobjectives  of  education  are  not  to  be  discovered  within 
just  any  kind  or  quality  of  human  affairs.    Occupational, 
civic,  sanitary,  or  other  activity  may  be  poorly  performed 
and  productive  of  only  meager  results.  At  the  other  end  of 
the  scale  are  types  of  activity  that  are  as  well  performed  as 
it  is  in  human  nature  to  perform  them,  and  which  are  abun- 
dantly fruitful  in  good  results.    Education  is  estabhshed 
upon  the  presumption  that  human  activities  exist  upon 
different  levels  of  quaUty  or  efficiency;  that  performance  of 
low  character  is  not  good;  that  it  can  be  eUminated  through 
training;  and  that  only  the  best  or  at  least  the  best  attain- 
lable  is  good  enough.    Whether  in  agriculture,  building- 
trades,  housekeeping,  commerce,  civic  regulation,  sanitation, 
or  any  other,  education  presumes  that  the  best  that  is  prac- 
ticable is  what  ought  to  be.   Education  is  to  keep  its  feet 
squarely  upon  the  earth;  but  this  does  not  require  that  it 
aim  lower  than  the  highest  that  is  practicable. 

Let  us  take  a  concrete  illustration.  The  curriculum- 
discoverer  wishes,  for  example,  to  draw  up  a  course  of  train- 
ing in  agriculture.  He  will  go  out  into  the  practical  world  of 
agriculture  as  the  only  place  that  can  reveal  the  objectives 
J.  of  agricultural  education.  He  will  start  out  without  pre- 
judgment as  to  the  specific  objectives.  All  that  he  needs  for 
the  work  is  pencil,  notebook,  and  a  discerning  inteUigence. 
He  will  observe  the  work  of  farmers;  he  will  talk  with  them 
about  all  aspects  of  their  work;  and  he  will  read  reliable 
accounts  which  give  insight  into  their  activities.  From  these 


CURRICULUM -MAKING  4d 

sources  he  will  discover  the  particular  things  that  the 
farmers  do  in  carrying  on  each  piece  of  work;  the  specific 
knowledge  which  the  farmers  employ  in  planning  and  per- 
forming each  sp)ecific  task;  the  kinds  of  judgments  at  which 
they  must  arrive;  the  types  of  problems  they  must  solve; 
the  habits  and  skills  demanded  by  the  tasks;  the  attitudes 
of  mind,  appreciations,  valuations,  ambitions,  and  desires, 
which  motivate  and  exercise  general  control. 

Facts  upon  all  of  these  matters  can  be  obtained  from  a 
survey  of  any  agricultural  region,  however  primitive  or 
backward.  But  primitive  agriculture  is  the  thing  which 
exists  without  any  education.  It  is  the  thing  education  is 
to  eliminate.  The  curriculum-discoverer,  therefore,  will  not 
investigate  just  any  agricultural  situation.  He  will  go  to  the 
farms  that  are  most  productive  and  most  successful  from 
every  legitimate  point  of  view.  These  will  often  be  experi- 
mental or  demonstration  farms  which  represent  what  is 
practicable  for  the  community,  but  which  may  not  be 
typical  of  actual  practices  in  that  commimity.  Where  such  , 
general  practices  are  inferior,  agricultural  education  is  to 
aim  not  at  what  is  but  at  what  ought  to  be. 

"When  the  farming  practices  are  already  upon  a  high  plane, 
education  has  but  a  single  function:  it  is  to  hand  over  these 
practices  unchanged  to  the  members  of  the  new  generation. 

Where  the  practices  of  a  region  are  primitive  or  back- 
ward, education  has  a  double  fimction  to  perform.  It  is  not 
only  to  hand  over  to  the  new  generation  a  proficiency  that 
is  equal  to  that  of  their  fathers,  but  it  is  also  to  lift  the  pro- 
ficiency of  the  sons  to  a  height  much  beyond  that  of  their 
fathers.  Within  such  a  region,  therefore,  agricultural  edu- 
cation has  the  additional  function  of  serving  as  the  funda- 
mental social  agency  of  agricultural  progress. 

What  we  have  said  concerning  agriculture  is  generally 
applicable  throughout  the  occupational  world.  For  discov- 


50  THE  CURRICULUM 

ering  the  objectives  for  a  training  cx)urse  in  bricklaying  one 
will  analyze  not  the  activities  of  bricklayers  in  general,  but 
those  where  bricklaying  has  been  carried  to  its  highest 
practicable  level  of  efficiency,  —  as  this  efficiency  is  judged 
on  the  basis  of  all  legitimate  standards.  Education  will  aim, 
not  at  average  bricklayers,  but  at  the  best  types  of  brick- 
layers. 

When  stated  in  broad  outline,  the  general  principle  is 
obvious.  In  practical  application,  it  presents  difficulties. 
Men  do  not  agree  as  to  the  characteristics  of  the  most  desir- 
able types  of  work.  The  employers  of  the  bricklayers  will 
be  inclined  to  use  maximum  productiveness  as  the  criterion 
of  superior  work;  and  unquestioning  obedience  to  orders 
and  contentment  with  any  kind  of  hours,  wages,  and  work- 
ing conditions  as  proper  mental  attitudes.  The  employees 
will  judge  otherwise  as  to  some  of  the  factors.  The  employ- 
ers will  invite  the  curriculum-discoverer  to  investigate  situa- 
tions where  productiveness  in  proportion  to  costs  is  greatest; 
the  employees,  where  the  total  welfare  of  the  worker  is  con- 
sidered alongside  of  the  factor  of  productiveness.  Both  sides 
will  agree  that  education  should  aim  at  the  best  and  that 
scientific  investigations  as  to  objectives  should  seek  to 
discover  the  characteristics  of  only  the  best.  They  disagree 
as  to  what  is  the  best,  and  therefore  where  the  investigations 
are  to  be  made. 

The  general  principle  of  finding  the  scholastic  curriculum 
in  the  shortcomings  of  children  and  men  is  quite  obvious 
and  entirely  familiar  to  teachers  in  its  application  to  the 
curriculum  of  spelling,  grammar,  and  other  subjects  that 
result  in  objective  performance,  such  as  pronunciation, 
drawing,  music,  computation,  etc.  It  is  not  so  clear  in  con- 
nection with  the  highly  complex  subjects  of  history,  litera- 
ture, geography,  etc.  What  are  the  social  shortcomings 
that  are  to  be  eliminated  through  a  study  of  these  social 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  51 

subjects?  Our  ideas  are  yet  so  vague,  in  most  cases,  that 
we  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  objectives.  The  first  task' 
of  the  scientific  curriculum-maker  is  the  discovery  of  those 
social  deficiencies  that  result  from  a  lack  of  historical,  liter- 
ary, and  geographical  experiences.  Each  deficiency  found  is 
a  call  for  directed  training;  it  points  to  an  objective  that  is 
to  be  set  up  for  the  conscious  training.  The  nature  of  the! 
objectives  will  point  to  the  ciuriculum  materials  to  be  se- 
lected for  these  subjects.  A  major  obstacle  is  lack  of  agree- 
ment as  to  what  constitutes  social  deficiency.  There  is  how- 
ever no  justification  for  scholastic  training  of  any  kind  except 
as  a  gap  exists  between  the  training  of  general  experience 
and  the  training  that  ought  to  be  accomplished. 

Society  agrees  sufficiently  well  as  to  many  social  short- 
comings. Education  needs  to  assemble  them  in  as  accurate 
and  particularized  a  form  as  possible.  They  can  then  be 
used  as  the  social  symptoms  which  point  to  the  objectives 
of  history,  literature,  geography,  economics,  and  other  social 
studies.  Society  will  disagree  as  to  many  suggested  deficien- 
cies. A  program  can  be  scientific,  however,  without  being 
complete,  ^e  thousand  spelling  words  presented  by  Mr. 
Ayres  is  a  good  list  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  presents 
not  more  than  a  quarter  of  the  words  needed.  It  is  a  secure 
beginning  that  can  be  completed  by  further  studies.  In  the 
same  way  in  our  social  training,  we  shall  do  very  well  if  we 
can  set  up  a  quarter  of  the  desirable  objectives.  That  would 
be  a  great  advance  over  none  at  all,  as  at  presenf;  and  would 
provide  the  nucleus,  the  technique,  and  the  vision  of  possi- 
bilities, necessary  for  gradually  rounding  out  the  list. 

The  principleinvolves  us  in  similar  difficulties  in  its  appli- 
cation to  civic,  moral,  vocational,  sanitational,  recreational, 
and  parental  education.  It  is  'equally  valid,  however,  in 
connection  with  each  of  these.  Only  as  we  agree  upon  what 
ought  to  be  in  each  of  these  difficult  fields,  can  we  know  at 


52  THE  CURRICULUM 

what  the  training  should  aim.  Only  as  we  list  the  errors  and 
shortcomings  of  human  performance  in  each  of  the  fields 
can  we  know  what  to  include  and  to  emphasize  in  the 
directed  curriculum  of  the  schools. 


PARTH 
TRAINmG  FOR  OCCUPATIONAL  EFFICIENCY 


CHAPTER  VII 

PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING 

With  only  occasional  exceptions,  each  of  the  twenty 
million  children  now  in  the  public  schools  of  America  will  in 
time  be  obliged  to  earn  his  Hving.  The  schools  should, 
therefore,  deal  with  every  normal  child  and  youth  on  the 
theory  that,  when  adulthood  is  reached,  he  must  earn  his 
living.  Each  is  to  be  a  producer  to  the  extent  that  he  con- 
sumes. -    '  - 

In  any  survey  of  civilized  conditions  the  most  obvious 
thing  is  that  men  and  women  must  work;  that  to  their  call- 
ings they  must  devote  a  major  portion  of  their  time  and 
energy.  They  find  Nature  very  parsimonious  with  her  sup- 
plies of^food,  clothing,  fuel,  shelter;  more  ilhberal  still  in 
supplying  books,  pianos,  theaters,  railroad  and  steamship 
tickets,  church  pews,  and  college  courses.  Nature  supplies 
only  the  crudest  raw  materials.  The  rest  must  be  created 
by  human  labor. 

Were  man  content  with  what  Nature  supplies,  he  would 
not  be  man,  but  only  an  exceptionally  intelligent  animal 
species.  But  he  has  not  been  content.  He  has  manfully 
taken  raw  Nature  in  hand  and  through  heavy  labor  con- 
trolled it  and  shaped  it  to  his  high  human  purposes.  Thus 
he  has  laid  the  foundations  of  his  civilization;  won  his 
measure  of  freedom  from  stem  biological  necessity;  and 
thus  alone  can  he  hold  his  gains.  Through  productive  toil 
he  has  won  his  leisure,  his  surplus  energies,  and  the  means 
for  his  art,  his  literature,  sports,  travel,  science,  religion. 

Occupational  labors  clearly  represent  the  basic  service  to 
humanity,  the  most  fundamental  social  service.   In  a  day 


/ 


56  THE  Curriculum 

when  the  watchword  of  the  world's  humanitarian  religion 
is  "social  service,"  it  is  well  to  note  that  the  most  solid 
and  never-relaxing  portions  of  this  service  are  the  labors 
of  farmer  and  merchant,  plumber  and  carpenter,  housewife 
and  seamstress,  miner  and  engineer,  physician,  teacher,  and 
journalist,  and  the  rest  of  the  vahant  anny  of  men  and 
women  who  labor. 

Those  who  object  to  vocational  education  in  public  schools 
because  manual  labor  is  sordid  and  unclean,  should  note 
that  its  frequent  unloveliness  is  due,  not  to  the  fact  that  men 
work,  but  to  the  conditions  of  their  labor.  Insanitary  shops, 
factories,  and  mines  sap  the  physical  vitality  of  the  workers. 
Their  inertia,  ignorance,  and  inefficiency  result  in  too  long 
a  work-day  and  a  too-extended  deadly  mechanical  monot- 
ony. They  Uve  usually  within  a  narrow  mental  and  social 
horizon.  There  is  a  great  dearth  of  humanizing  influences, 
companionships,  and  associations;  and  owing  to  this  absence 
of  uplifting  influences  and  opportunities,  they  all  too  often 
tend  to  vicious  and  destructive  animal  pleasures.  Too  often 
they  are  compelled  to  live  in  crowded,  unwholesome  houses; 
are  too  often  ill-fed,  ill-clad,  and  uncleanly  of  habit;  and 
have  wages  that  permit  little  better  even  if  they  should 
desire  and  attempt  a  higher  standard  of  Hving.  The  frequent 
ugliness  of  labor  conditions  is  sufficiently  evident. 

The  undesirable  conditions  are  debasing,  even  destruc- 
tive. Their  malign  influence  year  after  year  does  degrade  or 
even  destroy  the  laborer.  After  long  exposure  to  them,  his 
character  cannot  usually  be  of  socially  desirable  type.  Men 
should,  however,  clear  the  scales  from  their  eyes,  and  see 
that  while  the  maleficent  influences  may  be  the  usual  con- 
comitants of  labor,  they  are  not  necessary  concomitants. 
Each  is  really  a  foe  to  right  labor;  a  demonstrable  obstacle 
to  efficiency. 

The  purpose  of  occupational  education  is  the  removal  through 


PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  57 

general  enlightenment  of  the  injurious  or  destructive  labor 
conditions.  To  admit  that  much  of  labor  is  debased  and 
debasing  is  not  an  excuse  for  faltering  before  the  task  of  voca- 
tional training.  It  is  the  very  reason  for  manfully  imdertak- 
ing  it.  It  is  the  prrfence  of  imperfections  in  the  labor  field 
that  justify  the  ameliorative  labors  of  education.  As  in  the 
field  of  language,  where  there  are  no  imperfections,  there  is 
no  reason  for.  training  in  grammar.  The  more  mistakes  there 
are,  the  more  the  reasons  for  education.  In  the  same  way 
in  the  labor  field,  the  greater  the  number  of  imperfections, 
the  greater  is  the  need  of  vigorous  occupational  education. 

In  objection  to  the  social-service  doctrine  of  labor,  it  may 
be  urged  that  vocations  are  and  ought  to  be  individualistic. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  there  are  some  voca- 
tional classes  upon  whom  does  rest  the  moral  obligations  of 
social  service.  The  physician,  for  example,  supported  by  a 
given  community  is  expected  to  serve  that  community  to 
the  best  of  his  ability.  He  will  respond  to  calls  for  service 
at  any  hour  and  under  all  conditions.  Not  his  convenience, 
but  theirs,  is  to  be  served.  He  must  respond  to  the  call  of 
the  poor  who  cannot  pay  with  the  same  promptness  and 
good-will  that  he  extends  to  the  call  of  the  well-to-do.  He 
must  keep  inviolate  all  information  professionally  confided 
to  his  care.  In  these  matters  the  ethics  of  the  medical  voca- 
tion is  clearly  social.  The  work  is  recognized  as  social  serv- 
ice. The  physician's  measure  of  honor  is  the  greater  because 
it  is  so. 

Most  professional  service  is  of  analogous  type.  And  it  is     y 
these  social-service  vocations  that  we  regard  as  the  highest.^ 
Men  of  the  largest  intelligence  and  ambitions  regard  them 
as  the  ones  most  desirable.   To  develop  an  ethics  of  social  f 
service  about  a  calling  does  not  deprive  it  of  honor  or  desir-  L 
ability.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  thereby  exalted. 

These  professional  labors  are  not  the  only  ones  about 


58  THE  CURRICULUM 

which  public  opinion  is  weaving  systems  of  social  ethics. 
We  hear  much  nowadays  of  "public-service"  corporations. 
The  phrase  is  one  of  recent  coinage.  Until  within  a  few 
years  corporations  were  expected  to  serve  the  stockholders 
and  directors.  Now  we  have  faced  them  the  other  way. 
They  are  to  serve  the  pubHc.  A  railroad  company,  for 
example,  can  no  longer  fix  the  qualities,  rates,  or  conditions 
of  service  in  ways  dictated  solely  by  self-interest.  These 
are  fixed  in  the  interests  of  efficient  public  service.  Manu- 
facturers of  foodstuffs  and  of  clothing  are  no  longer  wholly 
free  to  follow  the  dictates  of  individual  self-interest  in  the 
choice  of  the  raw  materials,  the  labeling  of  the  product,  the 
labor  conditions  under  which  produced,  or,  in  extreme  cases, 
even  prices,  when  self-interest  runs  counter  to  community 
welfare.  Where  the  two  interests  conflict,  the  public  interest 
is  coming  to  be  dominant.  The  old  plan  was  to  "charge  all 
that  the  traffic  would  bear."  In  other  words,  there  was  to 
be  a  maximum  of  social  extortion  for  a  minimum  of  social 
service.  The  new  situation  reverses  the  terms.  Its  aim  is  a 

L maximum  of  social  service  for  a  minimum  of  social  exjjen- 
^ture. 

This  weaving  of  a  social  ethics  about  vocational  groups 
proceeds  with  almost  disconcerting  rapidity.  Many  are 
finding  it  difficult  to  readjust  their  systems  of  ideas  fast 
enough  to  keep  pace  with  social  changes.  But  the  move- 
ment appears  to  be  the  irresistible  movement  of  civilization. 
Many  vocations,  hitherto  self-centered  and  materialistic, 
are  being  humanized,  socialized,  and  lifted  into  a  purer 
atmosphere.  Bankers,  manufacturers,  and  railroad  officials, 
for  example,  in  recognizing  and  absolving  their  recently  dis- 
cerned social  responsibilities,  are  taking  places  in  social 
esteem  formerly  reserved  only  for  the  few  so-called  "  learned  " 
professions. 

Far  less  clear  is  this  movement  of  the  public  conscious- 


PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  59 

ness  as  regards  the  work  of  the  farmer,  the  small  merchant, 
the  housekeeper,  the  artisan,  the  factory-worker,  and  the 
unskilled  laborer.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  these  classes  serve 
the  general  welfare  as  fully  and  as  fundamentally  as  the 
other  classes  mentioned  above;  but  their  labors  are  not  yet 
so  fully  recognized  as  community  service.  Their  labors  are 
looked  upon  as  simply  self-seeking  modes  of  making  a  liv- 
ing. The  difference  in  the  social-service  situation  is  not  a 
difference  of  reality,  but  only  one  of  social  understanding 
and  recognition.  The  farmer,  for  example,  perfonns  an 
indispensable  community  service  in  supplying  the  original 
elements  of  food  and  clothing.  His  service  is  not  less  high 
than  that  of  the  physician  simply  because  he  ministers  to 
the  bodily  side  of  man.  The  physician  also  ministers  to  the 
bodily  welfare;  and  in  a  less  fundamental  way.  We  can  do 
without  the  labors  of  the  physician  most  of  the  time;  but 
the  services  of  the  farmer  extend  to  every  day  of  our  lives. 
His  labors  are  fully  as  strenuous,  involve  as  long  hours,  and 
require  as  great  disregard  of  physical  discomforts. 

Recognition  of  the  social-service  position  of  the  farmer] 
although  inadequate  as  yet,  is  developing  visibly  and  rapJ 
idly.  The  general  public  is  coming  to  see  that  many  of  its^ 
ills  are  due  to  inadequate  service  received  at  the  hands  of 
the  men  on  the  farms.  The  public  is  coming  to  scrutinize 
the  service  of  the  farmer,  and  to  point  out,  through  public 
opinion  and  legislation,  ways  in  which  he  may  better  serve 
the  general  welfare;  as  in  the  handling  of  milk,  the  tuber- 
culin test  of  cattle,  etc.  Only  a  few  regulations  of  this  type 
have  yet  been  extended  to  the  farmer's  work.  In  general  his 
social  responsibilities  are  yet  unrecognized.  Whether  the 
soil  socially  entrusted  to  his  care  shall  bring  forth  twenty  or 
one  hundred  bushels  to  the  acre  is  altogether  an  affair  of  his 
own,  and  in  no  wise  an  affair  of  the  rest  of  the  men  and 
women  whom  that  land  must  feed.  He  is  in  the  position  of 


60  THE  CURRICULUM 

the  street-car  company  that  runs  cars  or  not  just  as  the 
company  pleases  without  regard  to  the  general  welfare;  or 
of  the  physician  who  responds  or  not  to  a  call  for  help 
according  to  his  own  personal  desires.  The  countless  sug- 
gestions made  nowadays  by  bankers,  merchants,  packing- 
house directors,  grain-dealers,  ultimate  consumers,  etc.,  to 
"educate  "  the  farmer  so  as  to  bring  about  better  and  bigger 
crops  of  all  kinds,  to  keep  him  and  his  family  healthy,  happy, 
and  eflficient,  and  to  keep  the  sons  upon  the  farm,  are  indi- 
cations of  a  growing  recognition  of  the  indispensable  social- 
service  aspect  of  the  farmer's  work.  In  spite  of  any  desires 
on  his  part,  a  social  ethics  is  being  woven  about  the  farmer's 
work  in  the  public  consciousness. 
^^'^  Responsibility  is  not  all  on  one  side,  however.  In  serving 
all  other  groups  efficiently,  the  farmer  puts  upon  all  of  them 
the  responsibility  of  serving  his  interests  equally  in  return. 
He  must  have  opportunities  for  himself  and  family  for  self- 
realization  as  full  as  those  accorded  to  the  groups  which  he 
serves.  Current  discussions  of  rural  education,  churches, 
social  opportunities,  rural  surveys,  etc.,  indicate  a  rapidly 
growing  realization  of  these  return  social  responsibilities. 
In  developing  this  recognition  of  mutual  obligation,  the 
farmer  loses  nothing:  he  gains  much.  It  means  improved 
material  conditions,  a  widened  mental  and  social  horizon, 
more  numerous  social  contacts  and  opportunities,  and 
heightened  social  esteem.  His  measure  of  honor  and  of 
reward  must  be  in  proportion  to  the  general  consciousness 
of  his  measure  of  service. 

It  should  be  mentioned  here  that  the  development  of  a 
social  ethics  about  any  vocation  is  perhaps  always  done 
hy  those  who  receive  the  service,  not  hy  those  who  perform  it. 
Food  manufacturers  are  not  the  ones  who  pointed  out  the 
community-service  aspect  of  their  labors,  and  the  result- 
ing obUgations  of  purity,  honesty  of  label,  and  full  weight. 


PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  61 

Recognition  of  their  obligations  had  to  be  forced  upon  them 
by  those  to  whom  they  owed  their  responsibihties.  This  is 
equally  true  of  railroads  and  municipal-service  corp)orations, 
of  journalists  and  Congressmen,  of  teachers  and  clergymen, 
judges  and  physicians.  An  occupational  class  does  not  of 
itself  develop  its  own  social  ethics.  This  must  be  done  by 
the  general  public,  and  i>erhaps  always  in  the  face  of  oppK)- 
sition  from  the  class  that  is  being  socially  assimilated.  The 
superintendent  of  schools  in  a  large  city  recently  stated  that 
after  fifty  years  of  service  within  the  city  as  teacher,  princi- 
pal, and  superintendent,  he  had  never  known  a  progres- 
sive educational  movement  to  be  proposed  that  was  not  op>- 
posed  in  the  beginning  by  the  majority  of  the  teachers.  If 
such  is  the  case  with  an  occuimtional  group  already  so  en- 
lightened as  teachers,  and  already  so  imbued  with  the  spirit 
and  traditions  of  service,  much  more  may  initial  oppositions 
be  expected  of  social  groups  which  are  in  less  close  contact 
with  enlightenment,  and  which  have  not  yet  the  social 
momentum  of  tradition. 

Social  service  does  not  mean  self-renunciation.  Self- 
interest  cannot  be  eliminated.  It  is  the  steam  that  runs  the 
whole  machine.  It  has  always  been  and  must  always  be  the 
mainspring  of  human  action.  It  must  be  noted,  however, 
that,  on  the  one  hand,  there  is  a  narrow,  ignorant,  materi- 
alistic seM-interest;  and  on  the  other,  an  enlightened,  hu- 
manistic self-interest  characterized  by  wide  social  vision, 
which  recognizes  that  individual  welfare  at  its  highest  comes 
only  through  general  community  welfare  at  its  highest. 

The  growing  zeal  for  the  vocational  education  of  all 
classes,  shown  by  clear-sighted  men  and  women  whose 
primary  interest  is  general  human  welfare,  is  closely  related 
to  this  changed  and  still  rapidly  changing  attitude  toward 
all  useful  vocations.  They  see  that  every  useful  calling  is 
not  only  in  itself  social  service,  but  that  it  is  coming  to  be  so 


62  THE  CURRICULUM 

recognized;  and  that  it  is  being  more  and  more  given  its 
proper  measure  of  social  reward  and  honor. 

This  is  solving  a  problem  hitherto  insoluble,  although  our 
schools  pretended  to  solve  it  by  an  impossible  method.    A 
,    certain  few  occupations,  the  professional  and  the  mana- 
'j  gerial,  have  been  looked  upon  as  possessing  an  ethical  su- 
'  periority  to  commercial,  mechanical,  agricultural,  or  house- 
\  hold  occupations.   It  has  been  felt  that  in  the  professions 
men  can  live  honorable,  worthy  social  lives,  while  in  the  other 
■   caUings  men  are  of  necessity  sordid-minded,  self-seeking,  and 
generally  more  or  less  debased.    It  has  been  felt  that  edu- 
cation must  close  the  gates  of  full  opportunity  to  no  child. 
The  only  gates  of  full  opportunity  are  those  that  open 
'  toward  the  professions.  These  are  the  ones,  therefore,  that 
are  to  be  held  open  to  every  child  —  these  and  no  others. 
To  start  him  toward  anything  else  is  to  deprive  him  irrevoca- 
bly and  forever  of  the  opportunity  of  f uU-statured,  socially- 
honored  manhood.    The  result  has  been  that  we  have  of- 
fered pre-professional  training  to  all  pupils.    And  we  have 
refrained  from  recommending  to  students  that  they  prepare 
for  the  so-called  "lower"  occupations.     In   this  attitude 
teachers  have  been  honest  and  high-minded.    They  have 
felt  that  only  the  best  was  good  enough  for  their  pupils. 
Their  highest  service,  they  have  felt,  has  been  to  help  their 
pupils  to  the  highest. 

While  honest  and  well-intentioned,  the  plan  is  incredibly 
shortsighted.  The  doors  of  opportunity  are  not  opened  to 
our  twenty  milHon  children  and  youth  in  any  such  easy  way. 
If  all  of  them  should  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities 
and  fit  themselves  to  enter  upon  professional  or  managerial 
labors,  they  would  find,  when  they  reached  the  world  of 
affairs,  that  there  are  positions  of  this  type  for  less  than 
ten  per  cent  of  them.  More  than  ninety  per  cent  would 
after  fruitless  preparation  be  compelled  to  enter  the  ranks 


rURPtSES  tF  VtCATI#NAL  TRAIHINC^  63 

of  tradesmen,  merchants,  miners,  farmers,  factory  opera^ 
tives,  etc.  Nearly  all  would  be  turned  back  into  the  so- 
called  "lower  "  vocations.  Our  people  must  be  given  credit 
for  seeing  the  fallacy  of  the  plan.  The  withdrawal  of  pupils 
of  adolescent  grades,  of  which  we  hear  so  much  lament, 
appears  to  be  indicative  of  a  certain  amount  of  common 
sense.  Men  see  that  the  plan  only  pretends  to  offer  high 
opportunity  to  all;  it  does  not  really  do  so.  If  every  man  and 
woman  were  a  college  graduate,  the  useful  labors  of  the 
world  would  still  have  to  be  performed.  Productive  labor 
is  not  to  be  escaped  by  shunting  everybody  into  the  pro- 
fessions. 

So  long  as  equally  useful  vocations  have  been  so  unequally 
honored  and  rewarded,  and  so  long  as  labor  conditions 
have  offered  such  unequal  opportunities  for  self-realization, 
this  educational  problem  has  been  insoluble.  The  solution  is 
coming,  not  through  the  impossible  plan  of  lifting  all 
people  into  the  professions,  but  through  lifting  all  vocations 
to  the  social  level  of  the  professions.  The  process  is  making 
the  door  to  any  useful  vocation  a  door  of  opportunity. 

The  objectives  of  occupational  training 

In  the  imperfections  of  the  occupational  world,  one  finds 
the  call  for  directed  vocational  training. 

If  all  occupational  affairs  were  efficiently  and  harmoniously 
conducted  by  the  present  adult  generation,  education  would 
have  but  a  simple  task  to  perform.  It  would  be  nothing 
more  than  to  hand  over  to  the  members  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion the  fully  developed  occupational  heritage  of  the  pres- 
ent generation.  Educators  would  make  a  survey  of  actual 
occupational  conditions  by  way  of  finding  the  particular 
objectives  for  which  the  young  people  are  to  be  trained. 
It  would  be  easy  to  discover  demonstrable  objectives  ac- 
cepted by  everybody,  because  they  would  be  already  actual 
in  the  world  of  affairs. 


\ 


64  THE  CURRICULUM 

Unfortunately,  the  present  world  of  occupation  is  not  of 
the  type  described.  Affairs  in  general  are  managed  neither 
efficiently  nor  harmoniously.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  ad- 
vocates of  most  vocational  training  are  often  chiefly  inter- 
ested in  raising  the  labors  of  agriculture,  mechanical  trades, 
commerce,  etc.,  to  higher  levels  of  efficiency.  They  are  in- 
terested not  so  much  in  the  education  of  youth  as  in  the 
improvement  of  the  work  in  the  world  of  practical  affairs. 
The  improved  education  of  the  worker  is  simply  a  means  of 
bringing  about  this  result. 

Education  under  the  circumstances  has,  therefore,  a 
double  task  to  perform:  (1)  to  act  as  a  primary  agency  of 
social  progress,  lifting  the  occupational  world  to  a  higher 
and  more  desirable  level;  (2)  to  do  this  by  educating  the 
rising  generation  so  that  they  will  perform  their  occupational 
functions  in  a  manner  greatly  superior  to  that  of  their 
fathers.  The  task  is  to  develop  in  the  rising  generation,  not 
merely  the  degree  of  proficiency  found  in  the  world  about 
them,  but  to  carry  them  much  beyond;  to  look,  not  merely 
to  the  actual  practices,  but  rather  to  those  that  ought  to  be. 
It  is  so  to  train  them  that  the  occupational  mistakes,  weak- 
nesses, imperfections,  maladjustments,  etc.,  that  now  appear 
so  numerously  in  the  occupational  situations  of  their  fathers 
shall  be  as  fully  as  practicable  ehminated  in  that  more  har- 
monious and  more  efficient  occupational  regime  that  they 
are  to  establish  and  maintain. 

Since  the  training  is  for  the  purpose  of  eliminating  the 
various  undesirable  weaknesses,  obviously  one  of  the  first 
tasks  of  education  is  to  discover  what  these  are.  This  at 
present  is  a  baffling  and  in  part  an  impossible  task  because 
of  the  vagueness  of  our  knowledge  as  to  what  ought  to  he. 
Large  portions  of  the  occupational  realm  have  not  yet  been 
sufficiently  explored  by  scientific  investigators.  These  un- 
explored regions  constitute  fields  of  great  disagreement  on 


PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  65 

the  part  of  differently  situated  interested  parties.  A  list  of 
occupational  weaknesses  drawn  up  by  an  employers'  asso- 
ciation will  differ  in  essential  particulars  from  one  drawn 
up  by  a  labor  organization.  A  group  of  social  or  civic 
workers  will  prepare  a  list  that  will  differ  in  important 
respects  from  either. 

Educators  meet  here  with  a  grave  difficulty.  The  correction 
of  grammatical  or  spelling  errors,  for  example,  has  no  impor- 
tant economic  results.  Property  distributions  are  not  af- 
fected. Men  do  not,  therefore,  greatly  care  what  the  list 
of  grammatical  or  spelling  weaknesses  may  be  that  are  to 
be  corrected  by  the  training  in  our  schools.  They  give  Httle 
heed  to  our  lists,  however  complete  they  may  be.  But  in  the 
occupational  field,  property  is  affected.  An  undesirable  oc- 
cupational condition  very  frequently  gives  increased  profits 
to  one  group  and  does  harm  to  a  second.  It  is,  therefore, 
considered  good  and  desirable  by  one  and  evil  by  the  other. 
Each  side  develops  a  special  economic  theory.  One  justifies, 
the  other  condemns.  Public  education,  however,  must  train 
the  individuals  of  both  groups  for  the  occupational  and  eco- 
nomic things  that  ought  to  be.  We  cannot  employ  two  sys- 
tems of  thought  in  the  drawing-up  of  the  training;  and  each 
side  forbids  our  using  that  of  the  other.  And  in  the  face 
of  such  a  blocked  situation,  each  side  demands  of  the  schools 
that  something  adequate  be  done. 

Apparently  the  only  practicable  thing  for  the  present  is 
to  assemble  that  quite  considerable  list  of  occupational  de- 
ficiencies upon  which  all  sides  can  now  agree  sufficiently  for 
getting  a  program  under  way.  This  can  be  only  a  partial 
program;  but  it  can  provide  a  common  ground  of  under- 
standing which  can  be  gradually  extended  until  in  time  it 
embraces  the  whole  field. 

A  long  list  of  occupational  deficiencies  can  be  obtained 
from  the  Report  of  the  United  States  Commission  on  In- 


ee  THE  CURBICULUM 

dustrial  Relations.  This  commission  visited  all  portions  of 
the  country  and  secured  testimony  from  representatives  of 
eighty-two  labor  organizations;  thirty-six  employers'  asso- 
ciations; one  hundred  and  thirteen  firms  and  corporations; 
thirty-eight  civil  organizations;  and  fifty  public  institu- 
tions. Naturally  witnesses  of  different  types  did  not  agree 
as  to  occupational  maladjustments,  or  remedial  measures. 
But  education  cannot  wait  till  the  world  has  settled  all  its 
differences.  We  must  secure  a  list  of  deficiencies  that  can 
be  agreed  upon  by  at  least  a  majority  of  citizens.  In  the 
following  brief  list  we  present  a  mingled  sample  of  occu- 
pational deficiencies  and  maladjustments  as  reported  to  the 
commission  by  employers,  employees,  and  social  workers; 
or  as  implied  in  their  testimony.^ 

Occupational  deficiencies 

1.  Inefficiency  of  workers. 

2.  Inefficiency  of  managerial  officials  in  organization,  admin- 
istration, and  direction  of  work. 

5.  Dearth  of  high  ideals  and  standards  of  workmanship. 

4.  The  misunderstanding  and  misvaluation  on  the  part  of  each 
other  of  both  labor  and  capital;  the  lack  of  mutual  confidence; 
the  class  prejudices. 
^  6,  The  failure  of  workmen  to  appreciate  the  superior  power  of 
intelligence  over  force  in  the  correction  of  social  and  eco- 
nomic difficulties. 

6.  Inaccessibility  of  facts  concerning  the  various  occupational 
fields  to  many  or  most  interested  parties. 

7.  Violence  in  labor  troubles:  lockouts,  strikes,  black  lists, 
boycotts,  use  of  provokers,  spies,  and  gunmen,  sabotage, 
"soldiering,"  etc. 

8.  A  lack  of  industrial  democracy;  the  presence  of  industrial 
feudalism. 

9.  The  presence  of  opposing  special  interests  which  make  neces- 

*  Mainly  taken  from  a  summary  of  the  Report  of  the  Commission, 
published  in  The  Survey,  December  12, 1914. 


PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  67 

sary  opposing  organizations   and  the  resulting  inevitable 
class  warfare. 

10.  Employers  and  employees  both  largely  lacking  in  the  social- 
service  point  of  view,  and  in  social  conscience. 

11.  The  deadening  effect  of  long  mechanical  monotony  in  highly 
specialized  industry. 

12.  Insanitary  and  dangerous  conditions  in  many  industries.  The 
prevalence  of  occupational  diseases. 

13.  The  insecurity  which  the  wage-earner  feels  at  all  times.  Un- 
employment. 

14.  The  lack  of  a  voice  on  the  part  of  workers  in  the  regulation  of 
the  conditions  under  which  they  labor. 

15.  The  loss  of  the  feeling  of  individual  responsibility,  as  men 
are  swallowed  up  in  large  factories  or  other  corporate  organi- 
zations. 

16.  The  lack  of  the  scientific  attitude  of  mind,  in  the  considera- 
tion of  the  conditions  of  workmen,  wages,  relations  of  em- 
ployers and  employees,  relation  of  the  vocational  group  to 
the  general  public,  etc. 

17.  Lack  of  principles  or  accepted  standards  of  judgment  for 
fixing  wages  or  just  income  for  the  various  social  classes. 

18.  A  general  ignorance  on  the  part  of  occupational  groups  as 
to  the  social  relationships  of  their  labors;  their  rights,  and 
their  responsibilities. 

19.  A  highly  fragmentary  and  inadequate  knowledge  of  the 
occupational  situation  on  the  part  of  the  general  public. 

20.  Public  indifference  to  the  welfare  and  general  success  of  occu- 
pational groups. 

21.  The  unawareness  on  the  part  of  the  general  public  of  the 
ways  in  which  facts  can  be  used  in  the  settlement  of  occu- 
pational difficulties. 

22.  The  different  ethical  levels  to  which  equally  useful  occupa- 
tions are  assigned  in  the  public  consciousness. 

23.  The  decay  of  old  ideas  of  honesty  and  thrift. 

24.  The  lack  of  standards  of  judgment  as  to  where  one's  individual 
economic  rights  end;  laxity  in  the  search  for  any  such  limiting 
standards. 

25.  Square  pegs  in  round  holes,  and  vice  versa. 

26.  Low  standards  of  living;  and  the  undesirable  living  conditions 
that  are  made  necessary  by  low  wages. 

27.  Inertia,  indolence,  laziness,  —  usually  symptoms. 


68  THE  CURRICULUM 

28.  Inability  to  meet  new  labor  conditions  eflPectively. 

29.  The  mechanization  of  men  through  years  of  automatic  labor, 
who  are  then  thrown  upon  the  scrap-heap  because  of  the 
general  atrophy  of  their  powers,  and  their  inability  to  turn 
to  new  types  of  labor. 

When  we  examine  reports  of  vocational  surveys  to  see 
to  what  extent  they  have  discovered  the  serious  occupational 
diflSculties  that  are  to  be  met  by  better  occupational  edu- 
cation, we  are  disappointed  in  finding  that  many  of  them 
have  discovered  little  beyond  the  technical  ineflSciency  of 
the  worker.  The  program  of  training  which  they  recom- 
mend, therefore,  is  too  often  but  training  for  technical 
eflficiency.  This  cannot  be  too  much  emphasized.  But  tech- 
nical inefficiency  is  but  one  of  many  shortcomings;  and  from 
an  educational  point  of  view,  it  presents  the  simpler  prob- 
lems. Some  of  those  on  the  wider  social  level  are  education- 
ally more  baffling  and  will  require  more  extended  and  elab- 
orate educational  treatment. 

In  such  a  list  of  occupational  weaknesses  we  can  dis- 
cover the  objectives  of  occupational  education.  The  pur- 
pose is  so  to  train  men  and  women  that  the  weaknesses  will 
not  appear.  Occupational  education  will  seek  to  develop 
those  abilities,  dispositions,  bodies  of  knowledge,  types  of 
skill,  social  attitudes  and  valuations,  etc.,  the  possession  of 
which  negative  or  prevent  these  and  other  technical  and 
social  deficiencies. 

,  More  and  more  schools  are  recognized  as  the  agencies  of 
social  progress.  Where  deficiencies  are  discovered  in  any 
aspect  of  social  life,  schools  are  being  called  upon  to  over- 
come and  prevent.  For  example,  let  agricultural  production 
fall  short  of  needs  and  of  what  experiment  stations  show  to 
be  easily  possible,  and  business  men.  Congressmen,  and  all 
others  interested  set  up  a  great  clamor  for  agricultural  edu- 
cation.  Millions  of  dollars  are  then  voted  and  agricultural 


PURPOSES  OF  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  69 

courses  introduced  into  land-grant  colleges,  high  schools, 
continuation  schools,  extension  systems,  etc.    There  is  pro- 
vision for  long  courses,  short  courses,  and  brief  institute 
opportunities.     County  agents  are  appointed  to  lead  and 
supervise.  The  practical  men  are  very  much  convinced  that 
education  is  the  way  to  bring  social  progress.    Let  factory;    | 
production  be  inefficient,  and  business  men  call  in  no  un-* 
certain  tones  for  industrial  education.    Where  commercial 
and  clerical  work  is  not  well  done,  the  call  is  for  commercial^  '''^ 
and  clerical  education.    When  figures  show  the  extent  of 
physical  defects,  illness,  and  premature  deaths,  there  is  a     i 
demand  for  efficient  health  training  in  our  schools.    When 
our  young  men  in  large  numbers  are  found  to  be  physically 
unfit  for  military  duty,  there  is  widespread  demand  for 
military  training  in  our  high  schools  that  will  prevent  our_^ 
being  caught  unprepared.  When  traffic  accidents  grow  com-      ^ 
mon  on  our  crowded  streets,  the  cry  goes  up  for  "Safety- 
First  "  training  in  our  schools.   When  a  generation  appears 
that  seems  insufficiently  to  value  money  and  tends  to  squan-     (^ 
der  it,  the  call  is  for  teaching  "  Thrift "  in  our  schools.  And 
so  it  goes.  Practical  business  men  are  the  first  to  call  on  the 
aid  of  the  schools,  and  thus  to  recognize  their  fundamental 
position  as  agencies  of  social  progress. 

As  agencies  of  social  progress,  schools  should  give  efficient  • 
service.  And  efficient  service,  we  are  nowadays  coming  to  \ 
know,  is  service  directed,  not  by  guess  or  whim  or  special 
self-interest,  but  by  science.  To  be  efficient,  schools  are  not 
to  wait  till  somebody  guesses  that  a  certain  type  of  social 
progress  is  desirable,  or  until  it  is  prompted  by  desires  of 
larger  personal  profits,  or  of  avoidance  of  paying  damages. 
Scientific  management  demands  prevision —  accurate  pre- 
vision. It  demands  understanding  that  sees  all  factors  in 
true  and  balanced  relation  without  any  distortion  due  to 
claims  or  oppositions  of  special  interests.  This  means  that 


70  THE  CURRICULUM 

scientific  survey  and  analysis  of  human  needs  must  be  the 
method  of  discovering  the  objectives  of  the  training  that  is 
demanded,  not  by  individuals,  but  by  the  conditions  of 
society.  Such  surveys  will  demand  only  what  is  practicable. 
But  they  will  look  to  human  conditions  from  no  partial 
angle.  In  a  democracy  they  will  look  impartially  to  all 
things  that  promote  the  total  human  welfare.  They  will  be 
disproportionately  interested  in  no  special  class,  whether 
high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  cultured  or  uncultured;  but  with- 
out prejudice  or  partiaHty  will  look  equally  to  all. 


CHAPTER  Vin 

SPECIALIZED  TECHNICAL  TRAINING 

Specialized  technical  training  aims  at  a  productiveness 
far  beyond  that  of  a  pre-scientific  generation.  The  efficient 
farmer,  for  example,  in  terms  of  proved  standards,  is  one 
that  raises,  not  one  hmidred  bushels  of  potatoes  to  the  acre, 
which  is  about  the  average,  but  rather  two  hundred  to  five 
hundred  bushels.  The  efficient  cotton-planter  raises,  not 
the  average  three  eighths  of  a  bale  to  the  acre,  but  one  full 
bale.  The  efficient  bricklayer  lays  three  hundred  and  fifty 
bricks  per  hour,  instead  of  the  usual  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  efficient  machinist  in  cutting  steel  turns  out,  not,  as  in 
the  recent  past,  his  ten  units  of  product  per  day,  but  rather 
his  forty,  sixty,  or  one  himdred  imits. 

This  setting  forward  the  standards  of  accomplishment  is 
not  chimerical.  Scientific  industry  has  proved  its  entire 
feasibility.  It  is  to  be  done  through  the  application  of  science 
to  labor.  It  is  the  next  step  in  the  increase  of  productive- 
ness. Labor-saving  machinery  has  been  able  to  double, 
quadruple,  or  even  at  times  to  multiply  the  product  a 
hundred-fold  without  increasing  human  labor.  We  are  now 
being  told  that  through  the  application  of  science  to  indus- 
try an  equal  further  gain  may  be  made. 

Each  occupation  is  to  be  analyzed  into  the  tasks  that  make 
it  up;  each  task  into  the  factors  that  require  control.  The 
science  needed  for  the  regulation  of  each  factor  is  then  to  be 
assembled,  and  placed  in  secure  control  of  every  work- 
situation.  The  science  is  in  control  when  it  dominates  the 
consciousness  of  the  worker.  He  must  think  each  factor  in 
terms  of  the  science  of  that  factor.  His  planning  consists  of 


72  THE  CURRICULUM 

putting  his  science-ideas  to  work.  Thus  he  predetermines 
and  foresees  maximum  results  before  a  stroke  of  the  work 
is  done. 

Along  with  the  primary  matter  of  technical  intelligence 
there  is  the  secondary  matter  of  operative  skill.  In  some 
occupations,  as,  for  example,  stenography  or  telegraphy, 
the  amount  of  practice  needed  for  skill  is  large;  and  requires 
more  time  and  effort  than  the  technical  information.  But 
in  general  the  large  educational  tasks  relate  to  developing 
understanding  rather  than  operative  skill. 

The  work  of  the  farmer  affords  a  good  illustration.  Rais- 
ing a  crop  of  com,  for  example,  presents  the  problem  of 
controlling  a  large  number  of  independently  variable  fac- 
tors :  soil  ingredients,  hme,  nitrates,  phosphates,  sand,  clay, 
moisture,  soil  oxygen,  weeds,  quality  of  seeds,  temperature, 
light,  plant  parasites,  and  a  number  of  others.  For  each 
factor  in  a  given  situation  there  is  one  optimum  degree  of 
strength;  if  its  influence  is  either  too  weak  or  too  strong,  the 
crop  is  lessened.  He  must  see  each  factor  in  its  separate 
working  in  order  to  control  it.  Most  of  them  are  invisible 
or  indistinguishable  to  the  eye  of  sense;  they  are  to  be  seen 
only  by  the  inner  eye  of  technical  agricultural  science.  The 
trained  farmer  has  this  inner  light  and  this  inner  vision. 
He  can  see  and  control  the  factors  so  as  to  secure  his  sixty 
or  one  hundred  bushels  per  acre,  while  his  unseeing  rule-of- 
thumb  neighbor  secures  only  his  twenty-five  or  forty 
bushels.  The  difference  is  not  mainly  due  to  a  greater  amount 
of  manual  labor  or  of  operative  skill;  but  to  the  ability  to 
see  the  conditions  requiring  control  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
adjustments  that  are  best  under  the  conditions. 

After  the  trained  farmer  has  examined  all  the  factors  that 
enter  into  a  given  situation,  and  has  drawn  up  his  plans, 
naturally  he  must  have  the  operative  skill  for  p>erforming 
the  processes:  the  ploughing,  harrowing,  cultivation,  har- 


SPECIALIZED  TECHNICAL  TRAINING  73 

vesting,  storing,  etc.  Some  practice  is  required;  but  this 
presents  no  large  problem. 

We  have  not  been  sufficiently  accustomed  to  think  of 
science  as  the  source  of  maximum  occupational  productive- 
ness. We  have,  for  example,  ordinarily  thought  of  efficiency 
on  the  part  of  a  machinist  or  a  plumber  as  mainly  a  matter 
of  general  intelligence  and  manual  dexterity.  There  must 
be  skill  of  eye  and  hand,  as  we  have  phrased  it.  There  must 
be  operative  skill.  We  have  given  insufficient  thought  to 
the  intellectual  elements. 

Technical  efficiency  in  a  surgeon  is  very  differently  con- 
ceived. He,  too,  must  possess  great  operative  skill.  Hand 
and  eye  must  be  as  thoroughly  trained  as  in  the  case  of  the 
mechanic  —  even  more  so.  But  back  of  the  hand  and  guid- 
ing it,  and  back  of  the  eye  giving  it  vision,  there  must  be 
fullness  of  technical  knowledge.  With  the  surgeon,  skill  of 
hand  and  eye  is  mainly  a  matter  of  intellectual  discernment. 

The  case  of  the  surgeon  exhibits  the  two  factors  of  tech- 
nical efficiency  in  proper  balance  and  relation.  The  mechanic, 
as  popularly  conceived,  represents  an  incomplete  stage  in 
the  development  of  technical  efficiency.  Trained  to  strength 
and  dexterity  on  the  operative  side,  and  this  alone,  he  has 
had  but  one  side  of  the  training  he  needs,  and  the  less  funda- 
mental side.  He  lacks  the  thought-materials  in  terms  of 
which  to  think  the  factors  of  his  work-situations.  Without 
this  he  lacks  power  to  see  his  work  on  anything  but  a  rule- 
of -thumb  level,  or  to  know  that  there  can  be  any  other  level. 
His  great  need  also  is  a  knowledge  of  technical  science  back 
of  the  hand  for  guiding  it,  and  back  of  the  eye  for  giving  it 
vision.  For  the  tradesman  as  well  as  the  surgeon,  effective 
operative  performance  must  in  the  long  run  be  mainly  a 
matter  of  scientific  discernment. 

In  all  parts  of  the  occupational  world  to-day,  rapid  change 
is  the  rule.    Workmen   everywhere   are  being  confronted 


74  THE  CURRICULUM 

with  new  tasks  and  new  conditions.  In  the  presence  of  a  new 
and  strange  work-situation,  the  technically  untrained  work- 
man does  one  of  three  things:  (1)  he  blindly  applies  his  rule- 
of-thumb  procedure,  trusting  that  it  will  work  well  enough. 
Generally  it  is  ineflScient,  and  sometimes  wholly  unwork- 
able. (2)  He  guesses  at  an  adaptation  that  will  meet  the 
new  conditions.  Scientific  studies  have  proved  that  there 
are  incalculably  more  ways  of  going  wrong  than  right. 
He  therefore  usually  guesses  wrong;  and  the  work  is  in- 
efficient, or  a  failure.  (3)  He  is  nonplussed  by  the  situation. 
He  cannot  make  even  a  plausible  guess. 

Not  one  of  the  three  things  that  he  can  do  is  usually  the 
right  thing.  And  for  him  in  his  intellectual  blindness  there 
is  no  fourth  possibility.  He  finds  himseK  caught  hopelessly 
unprepared.  He  can  act  only  as  directed  by  others;  and 
usually  only  inefficiently.  The  condition  of  feudal  servitude 
in  which  he  works  is  the  necessary  result  of  his  ignorance. 
And  in  his  rewards  he  can  reap  only  the  fruits  of  ignorance 
and  inefficiency.  In  his  work  he  can  never  have  any  proper 
human  opp>ortunity;  never  possess  the  full-grown  man's 
independent  outlook  and  abiHty.  And  what  is  more,  out- 
side of  his  work,  because  of  his  inefficiency,  he  never  can 
have  any  full  human  opportunity.  In  general,  —  and  the 
conception  is  becoming  more  accurately  defined  each  year, 
—  one  can  have  only  in  proportion  as  one  earns.  Unfitted 
to  produce  the  means  required  f cwr  life  upon  a  proper  human- 
istic level,  he  never  can  attain  it.  His  ignorance  largely  shuts 
him  out  both  from  work  and  from  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  technically  trained  individual  is 
not  perplexed  by  new  occupational  situations.  He  does  not 
have  to  guess.  He  does  not  mechanically  apply  blind  habit. 
And  the  reason  is  simple.  The  new  situations  that  he  meets 
are  not  new  in  the  elements  that  compose  them.  He  sees 
within  them  the  same  familiar  factors,  only  differently  bal- 


SPECIALIZED  TECHNICAL  TRAINING  75 

anced  and  arranged,  with  which  he  has  been  deaHng  all  the 
time.  He  simply  takes  the  measure  of  the  factors  in  their 
new  forms  and  goes  on  applying  the  same  science.  In  his 
work  he  can  feel  himself  a  full-grown  man;  and  with  the 
fruits  of  his  efficient  labors,  he  can  provide  for  himself  and 
his  family  a  full  human  opportunity. 

There  is  another  closely  related  matter.  The  education 
which  comes  in  youth  must  consider  the  technical  intelli- 
gence needed  for  a  lifetime.  But  a  large  proportion  of  the 
science  needed  in  most  fields  is  yet  undiscovered.  And  natu- 
rally this  portion  of  it  cannot  be  now  taught.  But  many  of 
the  things  needed  by  those  now  entering  upon  their  work 
will  be  discovered  within  a  few  years.  If  they  are  not  to  be 
left  behind  and  cast  upon  the  scrap-heap  at  an  untimely 
age,  they  must  keep  abreast  of  discoveries  and  inventions 
relative  to  their  specialty.  For  the  technically  untrained 
individual  such  progress  is  impossible.  Lacking  the  main 
body  of  science,  he  has  no  apperceptive  basis  for  appre- 
hending new  developments,  nor  any  vital  interest  in  them. 
Inferior  position  or  the  scrap-heap  is  his  inevitable  portion. 
The  technically  trained  individual  is  prepared  to  make  the 
additions,  the  emendations,  and  otherwise  to  keep  abreast 
of  his  science.  He  alone  can  value  it.  He  will  keep  up  with 
it  as  it  appears  in  his  technical  journals;  assimilate  it  with- 
out effort;  and  put  it  to  practical  use.  While  the  schools 
cannot  teach  the  undiscovered,  yet  they  can  provide  the 
conditions  that  later  will  automatically  take  care  of  the 
mattero 

The  technical  training  is  here  treated  briefly  because 
many  of  its  aspects  were  presented  in  chapters  iii-v. 


I 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  OF  GROUP- WORKERS 

The  day  of  independent  tradesmen  and  of  other  disasso- 
ciated workers  is  past  or  rapidly  passing.  In  their  places 
we  have  great  factories,  department  stores,  public-service 
corporations,  railroad  systems,  school  systems,  hospitals, 
ecclesiastical  organizations,  building-construction  com- 
panies, mining  companies,  etc.  The  productive  capacity  of 
specialized  individuals  in  a  coop)erative  labor-group  is  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  same  individuals  working  independ- 
ently. They  turn  out  a  larger  product,  a  better  product, 
and  at  a  reduced  cost.  Because  of  the  greater  efficiency  it  is 
probable  that  the  movement  will  continue  until  it  embraces 
most  occupational  fields.  Education's  larger  problem  of 
technical  training  relates,  therefore,  not  to  the  training  of 
the  independent  specialist,  but  rather  to  the  specialized 
training  of  associated  workers. 

We  can  make  the  educational  problem  clear  with  an  illus- 
tration or  two.  In  the  old  days  a  shoemaker  was  master  of 
his  entire  craft.  He  took  the  original  order,  prepared  the 
leather,  designed  the  shoe  and  each  of  its  parts,  cut  each 
piece,  did  the  sewing,  the  finishing,  and  finally  the  selling. 
For  efficiency  he  had  to  have  a  command  over  all  of  the 
technical  factors.  At  the  present  time,  however,  one  man 
cuts  out  the  sole;  a  second  cuts  the  parts  for  the  upper;  a 
third,  the  lining;  a  fourth  man  sews  the  top  to  the  vamp;  a 
fifth  sews  on  the  toe-cap;  a  sixth  gashes  the  insole  prepara- 
tory to  sewing  it  to  the  vamp;  and  so  the  process  continues, 
the  shoe  passing  down  the  line  of  several  dozen  workmen 
before  it  reaches  the  last  one  who  places  the  finished  shoes 
in  the  box  ready  for  shipment. 


SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  OF  GROUP-WORKERS    77 

In  this  factory  situation  it  is  the  manager  who  controls 
everything.  Like  the  old-time  shoemaker  he  has  command 
of  the  technical  information,  makes  all  the  necessary  judg- 
ments, and  operates  his  man-and-steel  machine  in  such  a 
way  as  to  perform  all  the  processes.  The  one  difference  is 
that  he  uses  a  more  elaborate  set  of  tools  and  has  devised  a 
complicated  machine  that  uses  all  of  them  at  once.  The  men 
along  the  line  are  but  fingers  and  wheels  and  levers  in  one 
large  shoemaking  machine.  So  far  as  their  function  is  con- 
cerned, they  are  scarcely  men  at  all.  Had  the  manager  all 
the  inventions  that  he  would  like,  he  would  have  a  machine 
into  which  he  could  feed  the  leather  at  one  end,  and  out  of 
which  he  could  receive  the  finished  product,  ready  boxed 
for  shipment  at  the  other,  —  about  such  an  arrangement 
as  we  already  have  in  the  production  of  our  large  newspapers. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  just  that  kind  of  a  machine, 
though  not  yet  perfected.  The  men  scattered  along  the  line 
are  there  temporarily  to  supply  flexible  fingers  of  flesh  until 
cheaper  and  more  skillful  fingers  of  steel  can  be  invented 
to  fill  the  gaps,  and  the  machine  thereby  completed. 

Lest  it  be  thought  that  all  tendency  to  mechanization  of 
the  workers  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  field  of  material  pro- 
duction, let  us  note  a  case  upon  the  professional  level :  that 
of  teachers.  One  finds  in  a  large  city  building  a  line  of  highly 
specialized  teachers,  each  performing,  as  in  the  factory,  a 
small  portion  of  the  total  task.  The  first  teacher  in  line 
receives  the  original  raw  material  in  the  kindergarten  and 
performs  the  first  process.  It  is  then  taken  by  the  I-B  pri- 
mary teacher  for  a  half-year.  She  passes  it  on  to  the  I-A 
primary  teacher,  who  gives  to  it  her  half-year  of  effort. 
And  so  the  product  in  more  and  more  finished  form  is  passed 
down  the  long  line  of  specialists.  In  the  later  years  of  de- 
partmental teaching,  the  tasks  are  more  minutely  specialized 
and  the  material  passes  through  many  hands. 


78  THE  CURRICULUM 

Now,  here,  as  in  the  shoe  factory,  the  things  aimed  at  are 
the  finished  products,  and  the  labors  from  beginning  to  end 
must  all  aim  at  the  same  products.  But  since  each  teacher 
performs  but  a  fragment  of  the  total  process,  the  results  of 
which  usually  do  not  greatly  resemble  the  ultimate  objec- 
tives, it  follows  that  somebody  whose  vision  is  single  for  the 
final  product  and  who  sees  all  the  steps  to  be  taken  must 
think  for  the  whole  organization  and  direct  the  steps.  Super- 
intendent and  principal,  therefore,  lay  out  the  courses  of 
study,  choose  the  books,  supplies,  and  equipment,  and  direct 
the  methods.  The  supervisory  brain,  so  to  speak,  does  the 
thinking  for  the  whole  organization;  the  teachers  are  but 
hands  and  voices  to  this  brain. 

This  feudal  theory  tends  at  present  to  be  strong  wherever 
organization  develops  —  whether  in  factory  or  school,  rail- 
road or  hospital,  department  store  or  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization. It  appears  to  demand  specialized  technical  training 
for  the  five  or  ten  per  cent  who  lead  and  think  and  plan; 
but  for  the  vast  majority  only  such  little  training  as  they 
need  for  skill  in  routine  labor.  The  less  they  trouble  their 
superiors  by  thinking  and  insisting  upon  being  heard,  the 
better  for  all. 

This  feudal  theory  is  being  supplanted  rather  rapidly  by 
a  democratic  theory.  Let  us  resume  our  two  illustrations 
by  way  of  explaining  its  basic  conceptions.  Instead  of  its 
being  the  manager  of  the  shoe  factory  who  takes  the  place  of 
the  original  independent  tradesmen,  it  is  the  total  group  who 
takes  his  place.  In  the  school  field,  it  is  not  the  superintend- 
ent or  principal  who  takes  the  place  of  the  general  teacher 
of  a  century  ago,  but  it  is  the  total  group.  It  is  not  the  mana- 
ger, the  superintendent,  or  other  head  of  an  organization 
who  is  to  do  the  thinking  that  goes  into  the  work;  it  is  rather 
the  entire  associated  group.  Managers  and  superintendents 
are  those  who  have  specialized  in  leadership.  They  are  gen- 


SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  OF  GROUP-WORKERS    79 

eralists;  while  the  individual  workers  are  specialists.  Where 
all  are  made  intelligent  as  to  the  group-labors,  the  sum  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  specialists  added  to  that  of  the  gener- 
alists  is  greater  than  that  of  the  generahsts  alone;  and  this 
aggregate  is  a  more  effective  directive  agency.  And  as  work- 
ers are  changed  from  industrial  serfs  to  freemen  with  minds 
and  rights  to  think  and  with  responsibility  resting  upon  them 
for  thought  and  suggestions,  they  are  filled  with  a  new 
spirit.  Recognized  as  men,  they  become  men;  act  like  men; 
and  the  curve  of  their  operative  efficiency  mounts  rapidly 
upward. 

The  accompanying  diagram  will  show  the  relations  within 
the  school  organization;  and  is  typical  of  right  relations  in 


EDUCATIONAL 


SCIENCE 


History  Geography  Science  Literature 


Teacher  of  History 


:  C 


3       C 


Teacher  of  Geography   C 
Teacher  of  Science     C 


:  C 


1   C 


:  c 


Teacher  of  Literature  CZ 

Principal  IW^   t^?^^   ^^   ^^ 

Fig.  2.  To  represent  the  relations  of  specialists,  generalists,  and  the 
controlling  science  in  the  management  of  group-labors. 


all  organizations.  Over  all  the  group,  specialists  as  well  as 
generalists,  is  the  science  that  should  control  in  taking  every 
step.    Both  must  read  it.   But  it  is  not  to  be  read  in  books 


80  THE  CURRICULUM 

of  abstractions;  however  valuable  they  may  be  as  helps.  It 
is  to  be  read  within  the  practical  situations  where  they  work; 
and  by  those  in  contact  with  the  actualities  in  their  details. 
Some  things  can  be  seen  most  clearly  by  the  generalist; 
other  things  most  clearly  by  the  specialist.  As  indicated 
by  the  width  of  the  bars,  the  generalist  will  see  everything 
equally  in  balanced  relation,  his  function  being  interpreter 
and  coordinator  for  the  whole.  But  every  part  of  the  work 
is  vitally  related  to  every  other  part.  The  specialist  cannot 
see  his  duties  if  he  looks  to  them  alone  without  regarding  the 
labors  of  the  whole  organization.  He  can  rightly  see  any 
task  only  as  he  sees  it  as  a  part  of  the  whole  organization- 
task.  As  shown  by  the  width  of  the  bars,  he  will  have  a  fuller 
understanding  than  the  principal  in  his  special  field;  but  he 
must  also  have  an  understanding  of  the  whole  field  that  is 
much  like  that  of  the  principal,  except  as  to  its  complete- 
ness. Each  teacher  is,  so  far  as  possible,  to  be  his  own  co- 
ordinator. Otherwise  there  can  be  no  efficiency  in  organi- 
zation labors.  The  principal  cannot  be  always  at  the  elbow 
of  every  teacher  dictating  every  coordinating  adjustment* 
It  is  educational  science  that  must  preside  at  every  teacher's 
desk  and  do  the  dictating.  The  teacher  is,  therefore,  to  ho 
a  specialist  in  one  thing  and  a  generalist  in  all.  Having  op)er- 
ative  skill  in  one  thing,  he  needs  nothing  more  than  the  gen- 
eralist's  skill  in  the  others.  He  needs  to  think  all,  but  not  to 
do  all.  For  his  thinking  he  needs  to  he  trained  in  the  work  of 
the  entire  organization;  for  operative  skill,  he  needs  to  be 
drilled  and  practiced  only  in  the  special  tasks  required  of  him. 
An  orchestra  provides  us  with  a  perfect  illustration.  The 
conductor  is  a  generalist;  but  every  individual  player  must 
also  be  a  generalist,  or  he  cannot  be  a  perfect  specialist.  He 
must  think  the  whole  piece,  his  consciousness  must  move  as 
the  full  current  of  the  total  music,  in  order  rightly  to  place 
Im  si)ecial  part.    The  kettle-drummer,  for  example,  must 


SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  OF  GROUP-WORKERS    81 

strike  at  exactly  the  right  instant,  with  the  right  degree  of 
loudness,  and  with  his  instrument  properly  attuned.  Con- 
ductor and  music-score  are  necessary  helps  to  his  thinking; 
but  they  alone  cannot  determine  any  one  of  the  three 
enumerated  elements  with  exactness.  He  needs  to  be  trained 
on  the  conscious  side  to  the  whole  of  the  music  rightly  to  play 
his  part.  But  on  the  operative  side  he  may  be  skillful  with 
but  the  one  instrument. 

The  two  illustrations  are  taken  from  fields  where  it  is 
admitted  that  the  specialized  workers  must  be  generalists 
in  thought  in  order  efficiently  to  coordinate  their  speci- 
alties. Not  so  obvious  is  the  need  in  the  case  of  factory,  rail- 
road, or  large  department  store.  Recently,  however,  in  all 
these  types  of  organization,  schools  are  being  voluntarily 
established  in  which  speciaUsts  are  not  only  trained  for 
their  specialties,  but  also  to  an  understanding  of  the  whole 
in  order  rightly  to  understand  each  specialty.  This  move- 
ment shows  promise  of  abundant  growth.  Industrial  and 
commercial  organizations  are  becoming  conscious  of  the 
interdependencies  of  all  the  parts,  and  of  the  subtle  and  in- 
finitely numerous  ways  in  which  inefficiency  or  maladapta- 
tion  in  one  portion  affects  all  the  rest.  They  are  realizing  the 
consequent  need  on  the  part  of  each  to  see  and  continually 
to  think  the  whole  in  order  rightly  to  think  one's  own  part. 
As  the  science  is  developed  in  terms  of  which  to  do  all  the 
necessary  thinking,  what  is  now  obvious  in  the  case  of  the 
school  or  the  orchestra  will  become  equally  obvious  in  the 
case  of  all  group-labors. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the  curriculum  solu- 
tion. On  the  thought  side,  workers  are  to  be  taught  as 
though  they  were  to  work  in  all  parts  of  the  organization. 
This  will  mean  not  only  full  intellectual  studies  relating  to 
all  aspects  of  the  work,  and  systematic  observation  of  all; 
but  also  some  opportunity  to  work  in  all  portions  of  the  field. 


82  THE  CURRICULUM 

To  work  means  to  bear  participative  responsibility  of  some 
kind,  which  will  differ  according  to  the  nature  of  the  work. 
Sometimes  he  will  work  at  a  thing  quickly  learned  on  the 
operative  side,  or  one  requiring  no  special  op)erative  skill; 
in  such  case  he  may  well  bear  full  responsibility.  In  other 
cases,  involving  specialized  skill  which  requires  long  prep- 
aration, he  may  serve  as  a  helper  to  the  skilled  operative  so 
as  to  bear  enough  responsibility  for  acquiring  the  generaUst*s 
necessary  insight  and  appreciation. 

So  far  as  public  education  takes  care  of  this  training,  it 
may  leave  the  individual  on  the  semi-specialized  level,  —  a 
generalist  within  some  broad  occupational  field.  Carried 
thus  far  his  training  is  practically  complete.  Usually  the 
final  specialization  will  be  left  until  the  individual  is  em- 
ployed in  the  occupation  itself.  Understanding  the  whole, 
he  will  quickly  master  his  specialty.  But  it  cannot  usually 
take  place  in  any  school.  It  usually  must  take  place  in  the 
occupational  situation  where  he  is  to  work,  as  directed  by 
technical  specialists  employed  for  the  purpose. 

Occupational  education  must  concern  itself  largely  with 
the  preparation  of  workmen  and  managers  ^(yr  right  mental 
attitudes  toward  the  work.  The  general  technical  intelligence 
referred  to  must  constitute  much  of  the  basis  for  these  right 
mental  attitudes.  The  manager  as  a  generalist  among 
trained  specialists  actually  does  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
total  group-task.  But  seeing  the  whole  and  thinking  the 
whole,  as  he  does  his  small  part,  he  feels  himseK  doing  the 
whole.  Just  so  it  is  with  the  fully  enlightened  specialized 
worker.  Let  him  as  he  works  at  his  minute  task  have  a  clear 
intellectual  vision  of  the  total  group-task.  With  his  discern- 
ment of  interdependencies,  and  of  the  way  his  labor  is  con- 
cerned in  and  supports  all  the  rest,  he  too  feels  his  power  and 
his  responsibility  to  extend  outwards  to  the  farthest  Hmits 
of  the  group-labors.  In  his  consciousness,  the  specialist  may 


SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  OF  GROUP-WORKERS    83 

feel  himself  a  master  about  as  fully  as  the  generalist.  The  main 
difference  between  the  laggard  specialist  as  a  slave  and  the 
vigorous  specialist  as  a  master  is  in  having  or  not  having  the 
intellectual  vision  of  the  work  as  a  whole.  The  one  feels  his 
personality  and  his  responsibility  to  be  as  small  as  his  petty 
task.  To  the  other,  both  are  greatly  magnified  since  his 
vision  of  the  group-labors  becomes  his  vision  of  his  own 
labors. 

At  Beverly,  Massachusetts,  in  their  part-time  shop  school, 
where  they  are  training  machinists  for  the  United  Shoe 
Machinery  Company,  they  have  equipped  a  small  shop  with 
all  the  kinds  of  machines  used  in  the  large  factory.  As  the 
boys  are  trained,  they  pass  from  machine  to  machine  so  as 
to  become  proficient  in  the  entire  range  of  labor  to  be  found 
within  the  large  factory.  In  both  school  and  factory,  they 
are  bringing  each  of  the  workmen  to  a  full  understanding  of 
all  of  the  labors  performed  in  the  shop.  This  same  width  of 
industrial  training  is  attempted  in  all  well-developed  in- 
dustrial schools.  Apprenticeship  contracts  usually  specify 
that  the  boy  shall  be  moved  about  from  one  kind  of  work  to 
another  so  as  to  have  an  opportunity  to  master  all  of  the 
processes. 

Under  the  so-called  "Taylor  System  "  of  scientific  manage- 
ment, all  the  thinking  is  done  by  specialized  officials  in  the 
"planning-room."  Decisions  are  there  made  as  to  what  is  to 
be  done  every  hour  dm-ing  the  day  by  every  man  in  the 
shop.  Instructions  are  typ>ewritten,  and  sent  out  to  the 
workmen.  The  latter  are  not  expected  to  do  any  thinking  or 
judging  or  deciding;  this  is  all  done  for  them;  they  are  only 
to  obey  orders. 

This  system  is  looked  upon  by  many  factory  managers 
as  the  most  perfect  that  has  yet  been  devised.  It  puts  science 
in  the  saddle.  Yet  the  system  is  not  popular.  Where  it  is 
tried,  it  is  frequently  abandoned.    It  usually  breaks  down, 


84  THE  CURRICULUM 

we  are  told,  because  most  labors  are  so  complicated  that 
the  planning-room  cannot  foresee  all  contingencies;  and 
therefore  cannot  make  provision  for  all  necessary  coordina- 
tions. It  takes  responsibility  for  thought  and  initiative  off 
the  men.  When  instructions  are  deficient  or  obscure,  work 
has  to  stop  until  further  orders  are  received.  Where  instruc- 
tions to  different  workmen  are  contradictory,  the  plan  gives 
them  no  power  to  adjust  matters.  The  relative  failure  of  the 
Taylor  System  seems  to  result  from  insufficient  attempt  to 
enlist  the  intelligence  and  initiative  of  the  men.  The  system 
claims  that  both  managers  and  men  are  working  under  the 
control  of  science;  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  science  is 
mostly  visible  only  to  the  management;  and  is  little  or  not 
at  all  visible  to  the  men.  They  see  only  the  orders.  The  sys- 
tem represents  a  halfway  step,  however,  toward  actual  and 
inevitable  scientific  management.  Science  rules  in  the 
planning-room;  it  must  also  rule  in  the  consciousnesses  of 
the  workmen. 

The  human  element 

Recently  there  has  been  an  awakening  qn  the  part  of 
leaders  of  organized  industry  as  to  the  far-reaching  signifi- 
cance of  the  human  element.  The  independent  tradesman 
did  not  have  to  manage  men;  he  had  no  such  problem.  It 
has  arisen  with  organization,  where  men  work  in  groups, 
and  where  the  generalist  must  be  in  part  the  director  — 
at  least  the  leader  —  of  the  specialists ;  where  he  must  play 
upon  them  and  through  them  as  does  the  conductor  of  an 
orchestra. 

Of  large  occupational  organizations,  it  is  education  that 
has  most  fully  recognized  the  need  of  taking  into  account 
the  human  element.  In  a  school  system,  for  example,  the 
pupils  are  the  ultimate  workers.  Using  the  terminology  of 
the  factory,  the  teachers  rank  as  foremen.    It  is  their  busi- 


SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  OF  GROUP-WORKERS    85 

ness  not  to  do  the  work  that  educates,  but  to  get  it  done  by 
the  pupils.  In  doing  this,  they  must  know  the  pupils:  know 
their  varying  mental  capacities,  their  interests,  their  apti- 
tudes and  abilities,  their  states  of  health,  and  their  social 
milieu.  They  must  know  how  to  arouse  interest;  how  to 
motivate  them  from  within;  how  to  adjust  the  conditions 
of  the  work  to  child-nature;  how  to  keep  up  an  abundant 
physical  vitality  in  the  children;  and  how  to  employ  com- 
munity influences  for  vital  stimulation  of  the  pupils. 

Now  come  the  leaders  of  scientific  management  in  industry 
and  commerce  and  proclaim  their  recognition  of  the  human 
factor  as  a  great  and  revolutionizing  discovery.  Superin- 
tendents and  foremen  in  factories  must  know  their  men, 
their  psychology,  aptitudes,  interests,  motivating  influ- 
ences, etc.,  so  as  to  be  able  to  stimulate  them  to  the  greatest 
desirable  degree  of  productivity.  It  has  been  found  that 
arbitrary  driving  will  not  work  with  men  any  more  than 
with  pupils.  The  driving  force  must  lie  within  the  vxill  of  the 
worker.  The  foreman  must  adjust  conditions  of  work,  wages, 
factory  sanitation  and  comforts,  opportunities  of  promo- 
tion, of  social  recognition,  etc.,  so  that  this  inner  driving 
force  will  awaken  naturally  and  of  itself  within  the  worker. 
The  foreman  must  be  able  to  read  the  nature  and  needs  of  his 
men  as  fully  as  the  teacher  reads  his  pupils.  He  needs  to  be 
proficient  in  practical  psychology,  practical  sociology, 
industrial  hygiene  and  sanitation,  and  other  human  studies 
that  are  at  the  same  time  technical  studies  for  him. 

In  the  relations  of  foremen,  managers,  etc.,  to  their  men, 
the  greatest  single  source  of  coordination  is  a  large  ground  of 
common  understanding,  community  of  thought,  and  mutual 
confidence  in  the  motives  actuating  both  sides.  Where  all 
are  informed  as  to  the  controlling  science,  where  all  have 
access  to  all  the  facts  relative  to  the  economic  and  other  vital 
affairs  of  the  group,  in  ways  otherwhere  specified,  these 


86  THE  CURRICULUM 

grounds  of  mutual  confidence  and  understanding  are  se- 
curely laid.  In  the  bitter  antagonisms  of  labor  and  capital, 
the  need  is  being  voiced  by  both  sides.  One  of  our  well- 
known  captains  of  industry  is  reported  recently  to  have  said: 

If  capital  and  labor  do  not  get  together  in  the  right  spirit,  the 
future  of  America  is  doomed.  If  they  do  not  come  to  see  that  the 
interests  of  each  are  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  interests  of 
the  other,  and  that  each  must  be  mutually  recognized  and  re- 
spected, then  capital's  resources  are  doomed,  just  as  the  workers* 
prosperity  is  doomed. 

One  cannot  exist  without  the  cooperation  of  the  other.  To  drive 
this  stupendous  fact  home  to  each  of  these  two  forces,  to  make 
each  know  that  it  is  but  the  complementary  force  of  the  other,  and 
not  an  antagonistic  force,  is  the  most  vital  problem  before  the 
United  States  to-day. 

Let  the  officers  of  this  company  understand  that  there  is  never 
to  be  another  strike  in  our  company,  that  every  man  is  to  be 
treated  as  a  partner  and  not  as  an  enemy  or  an  underling.  .  .  . 

Now,  to  be  partners,  to  cooperate  intelligently  and  effec- 
tively, to  be  able  mutually  to  recognize  and  respect  the  inter- 
dependent interests  of  the  other,  etc.,  —  these  things  imply 
that  all  must  have  access  to  the  same  body  of  facts;  and  that 
all  have  the  trained  powers  of  mind  necessary  for  rightly 
interpreting  and  judging  of  those  facts.  As  yet,  taking  the 
industrial  world  in  general,  neither  of  these  things  has  been 
provided  for.  And  so  long  as  this  is  the  case,  industrial 
antagonisms,  occasionally  flaring  forth  into  actual  warfare, 
will  and  must  continue.  But  just  as  the  industrial  leaders 
are  now  calling  on  the  schools  for  remedying  technical 
weaknesses  on  the  side  of  labor  processes,  so  they  must  like- 
wise depend  upon  the  schools  to  provide  much  of  the  train- 
ing needed  for  those  other  weaknesses  on  the  side  of  the 
human  factor.  Neither  side  is  now  consciously  trained  for 
mutual  understanding.  Both  sides  are  equally  in  need  of  ex- 
tended training^  that  has  community  of  thought,  and  outlook, 
and  valuations,  as  its  conscious  purpose. 


CHAPTER  X 

SOCIAL  ASPECTS  OF  OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING 

One  hears  much  nowadays  concerning  "occupational 
efficiency."  But  the  term  may  refer  to  either  of  two  widely 
different  conceptions.  One  may  take  the  short  and  narrow 
view,  and  conceive  the  term  as  meaning  only  "high  material 
productiveness."  The  degree  of  efficiency  in  such  case  is  to 
be  measured  by  the  amount  of  economic  product.  Beyond 
this,  it  does  not  go.  It  leaves  the  product  in  the  hands  of 
the  producer  without  further  inquiry. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  term  may  refer  to  "high  efficiency 
in  the  promotion  of  the  general  human  welfare."  The  degree 
of  efficiency  is  to  be  measured  by  the  quantity  of  human 
service.  Whereas  the  narrow  view  looks  at  the  material 
product  as  the  finished  product,  this  humanistic  view  sees 
the  finished  product  only  within  those  human  results  that 
arise  from  the  use  of  the  economic  product.  The  latter  is  a 
means;  not  an  end.  Not  unnaturally  this  is  the  view  that  is 
coming  to  be  preferred  by  the  world  at  large.  Even  though 
labor  because  of  great  technical  knowledge  and  skill  may 
turn  out  a  large  product,  if  that  product  falls  into  only  a 
few  hands  where  it  is  selfishly  misused  so  as  to  produce  or 
to  permit  continuing  human  ill-fare  instead  of  welfare,  then 
the  occupation  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  efficient  in  any 
desirable  way.  In  terms  of  human  service,  it  is  inefficient. 

Efficient  management  of  the  social  factors  is  as  vital  as 
technical  efficiency.  The  economic  mechanism  is  to  be 
operated  by  society  in  general  for  the  sake  of  maximum 
human  service.  This  task  is  immeasurably  more  compli- 
cated than  operating  a  lathe  or  a  locomotive  or  raising  a  crop 


88  THE  CURRICULUM 

of  com.  If  technical  training  is  needed  for  the  latter,  cer- 
tainly then  technical  training  of  all  people  for  the  effective 
operation  of  our  vast  economic  mechanism  is  much  more 
needed. 

Division  of  labor  has  created  the  problem.  To  see  this, 
let  one  first  think  of  our  country  civilized  as  at  present  and 
producing  as  much  as  possible  of  the  things  used  to-day  — 
but  without  any  division  of  labor.  Within  such  a  situation 
vocational  education  would  be  highly  desirable.  But  it 
would  be  only  for  technical  information  and  skill.  There 
would  be  no  need  for  training  in  the  social  aspects  of  occu- 
pation because  there  would  be  no  social  aspects.  Production 
would  be  wholly  individualistic;  and  distribution  non- 
existent. Each  worker  would  receive  in  proportion  as  he 
produced  —  neither  more  nor  less.  Each  would  have  in  pro- 
portion as  he  earned.  There  would  be  no  economic  mechan- 
ism to  be  operated  by  society;  and  consequently  no  need  of 
community  training  in  the  technique  of  operation. 

But  specialization  of  labor  has  introduced  social  inter- 
dependency.  Each  produces  one  thing;  and  this  not  for 
himself  alone,  but  for  all  the  group.  In  return  each  receives 
from  the  others  that  portion  of  their  product  which  they 
have  produced  for  him.  The  obverse  side  of  division  of  labor 
is  the  organic  interdependence  of  the  group.  The  individu- 
alistic situation  disappears  in  proportion  as  speciahzation 
appears.  In  the  degree  in  which  the  group  is  divided  for  the 
performance  of  specialized  labors,  it  must  be  united  for  any 
effective  cooperative  distribution  of  the  fruits  of  those  labors. 
Without  the  latter,  the  purpose  of  the  divided  labor  is 
defeated. 

This  cooperation  of  specialists  demands  general  under- 
standing on  the  part  of  all  as  to  the  common  ends;  of  the 
means  of  attaining  them;  and  a  disposition  to  obey  the 
social  dictates.  It  seems  that  each  member  of  society  needs 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  89 

to  be  informed  as  to  the  total  occupational  situation:  the 
working  conditions  that  are  supplied  to  all  classes  of  special- 
ized workers;  the  relation  of  these  to  right  standards;  the 
productivity  of  the  various  occupations;  the  distribution  of 
the  products;  the  nature  and  mode  of  operation  of  the  eco- 
nomic mechanism  necessary  for  accomplishing  all  of  the 
social  purposes.  And  along  with  information,  he  also  needs 
social  attitudes  and  valuations.  The  social  studies  of  our 
schools,  the  history,  geography,  literature,  economics,  etc., 
have  the  large  and  inadequately  recognized  task  of  develop- 
ing both  information  and  attitudes.  The  ends  demand  a 
program  of  large  proportions  that  has  been  mostly  unrecog- 
nized and  unattempted. 

The  conception  that  the  labors  of  an  industry  are  to  be 
supervised  by  those  who  are  served  is  really  as  old  as  indus- 
try itself.  It  was  formerly  done  by  the  consumer's  accept- 
ance or  rejection  of  the  product.  If  it  did  not  suit  him,  he 
went  elsewhere.  This  plan  is  operative  still.  But  industries 
have  grown  large  and  complex.  Competition  is  eliminated 
through  price  agreements,  or  division  of  the  field.  Often 
one  cannot  now  go  elsewhere  for  supplying  his  needs.  Proc- 
esses and  products  have  grown  so  complicated  that  he  can 
no  longer  judge  of  quahty  of  commodities  or  justice  of 
prices.  He  cannot  know  whether  he  ought  to  go  elsewhere 
or  not.  Should  he  do  so,  being  unable  to  distinguish  the 
better  from  the  worse,  he  still  cannot  know  whether  he  is 
improving  matters.  Men  are  coming  to  see  that  a  kind  of 
intelligence  and  a  mode  of  supervision  of  the  services  of 
others  that  worked  well  in  a  simpler  economic  age  can  no 
longer  serve  our  purposes.  New  conditions  demand  new 
methods. 

Public-service  labors  are  coming  to  be  supervised  by  the 
public  through  public-service  commissioners,  committees 
of  city  councils,  the  United  States  Interstate  Commerce 


90  THE  CURRICULUM 

Commission,  etc.  These  representatives  of  the  public  keep 
a  continuous  oversight  over  quality,  quantity,  costs  of  serv- 
ice, etc.  Year  by  year  this  commimity  supervision  is  aug- 
mented and  strengthened;  and  freedom  to  serve  or  not  as 
dictated  by  self-interest  is  diminished.  Each  year  sees  the 
extension  of  this  supervision  to  hitherto  imsupervised  occu- 
pational fields.  For  some  time  it  has  been  accepted  as  a 
matter  of  course,  in  the  case  of  railroads,  express  companies, 
telegraph  and  telephone  companies,  city  traction,  gas,  and 
electrical  supply  companies,  the  work  of  plumbers  as  regards 
sanitation,  of  carpenters  and  electricians  as  regards  fire 
protection,  etc.  More  recently  the  supervision  is  being 
extended  to  food  and  drug  manufacture  and  distribution, 
the  milk-supply,  packing-house  industries,  the  handling  of 
perishable  foods,  etc. 

But  all  useful  specialized  labors  are  public-service  labors. 
It  becomes  ever  more  difficult  to  draw  any  line  of  division 
between  industries  that  are  to  be  socially  sup>ervised  and 
those  that  are  to  be  left  only  to  the  control  of  individual 
self-interest.  The  logical  end  of  the  process  is  the  extension 
of  social  supervision  to  all  that  serve  and  the  suppression 
of  all  that  do  not  serve.  And  all  social  movements  set 
strongly  in  that  direction.  Where  done  wisely  and  justly, 
its  influence  is  salutary  both  to  industry  and  general  com- 
munity. 

Whether  the  supervision  does  good  or  harm  to  the  occu- 
pations, and  thus  to  the  community  itself,  depends  upon  the 
quantity  of  sjmapathetic  occupational  enlightenment  em- 
ployed by  the  public  in  the  supervision.  Where  present  in 
sufficient  degree,  a  community  can  maintain  a  high  charac- 
ter of  service  while  keeping  costs  on  a  level  that  is  just  to  all 
concerned.  On  the  other  hand,  ignorant  or  mercenary  super- 
vision can  diminish  or  destroy  the  power  of  an  industry  for 
service,  and  thus  do  harm  both  to  industry  and  community. 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  91 

To  require  of  a  railroad,  for  example,  a  high  character  of 
service,  but  at  the  same  time  to  keep  the  rates  so  low  that 
necessary  expenses  cannot  be  met,  may  injure  or  destroy 
the  service  that  the  supervision  is  intended  to  improve. 

The  supervision  at  bottom  must  be  performed  by  the  men 
and  women  of  the  general  community.  They  may  delegate 
legislative  and  executive  action  so  far  as  these  are  required. 
But  they  must  first  know  what  they  want  their  representa- 
tives to  accomplish  before  they  can  delegate  the  responsibiU- 
ties;  or  check  up  the  work  to  see  that  the  right  things  are 
done.  There  must  be  informed  public  opinion  and  right 
community  attitudes  and  valuations.  While  this  community 
mind  may  partly  control  through  governmental  mechanism, 
in  the  main  it  doubtless  must  act  difectly  in  influencing  the 
acts  of  its  specialized  members.  When  all  members  of  an 
industry  know  what  is  expected  of  it,  and  when  they  know 
that  the  public  knows,  and  that  the  public  will  be  instantly 
aware  of  any  missteps  that  they  may  make,  —  this  is  the 
situation  that  crystallizes  into  "social  conscience."  It  is 
this  that  will  supervise  and  exercise  social  control.  One  can 
appreciate  the  relations  by  noting  the  analogous  "grammar 
conscience."  It  is  not  necessary  to  employ  legal  machinery 
for  enforcing  the  laws  of  grammar.  To  know  what  is  right 
usage,  and  to  know  that  one's  associates  will  instantly 
detect  and  silently  condemn  any  deviations  therefrom,  is 
enough  to  hold  the  well-informed  individual  pretty  close 
to  the  straight  and  narrow  paths  of  grammar.  In  the  same 
way  it  is  public  knowledge  of  an  occupation  that  through 
public  opinion  must  directly  and  indirectly  supervise  that 
occupation.  And  education  must  confer  the  necessary  en- 
lightenment, social  attitudes,  and  occupational  conscience. 

The  acceptance-rejection  method  of  supervision  of  early 
days  was  of  a  democratic  type.  Everybody  knew  products, 
processes,  and  social  relationships  sufficiently  to  supervise; 


92  t/^  THE  CURRICULUM 

and  on  the  basis  of  this  knowledge,  through  accepting  or 
rejecting  the  products  everybody  was  continually  engaged 
in  the  task  of  supervision.  Each  did  it  for  himself,  however. 
Special  training  was  not  needed.  Cooperative  and  system- 
atic methods  of  diffusing  the  necessary  intelligence  were 
not  needed.  In  one  fundamental  aspect  that  was  a  day  of 
industrial  democracy.  Except  as  labor  was  purely  individual, 
each  served  all,  and  all  supervised  each.  The  present  is 
asking  nothing  more.  It  is  asking  only  for  new  methods 
that  can  be  as  effective  for  present-day  conditions  as  the 
older  methods  were  for  the  old  days.  One  of  the  major 
differences  must  be  in  the  mode  of  diffusing  the  necessary 
enlightenment.  As  much  as  in  the  old  days,  all  need  now  to 
understand  products,  processes,  and  occupational  relation- 
ships. But  the  knowledge  cannot  be  picked  up  incidentally. 
What  could  formerly  be  well  enough  done  without  the  help 
of  the  schools  can  no  longer  be  accomplished  in  any  such 
unsystematic  and  incidental  way.  A  school  task  always 
arises  when  the  incidental  method  breaks  down  in  the  face 
of  complicated  conditions.  The  economic  revolution  of  the 
past  few  decades  has  in  this  manner  created  an  educational 
task  of  gigantic  proportions. 

One  has  but  to  examine  the  newer  courses  of  study  and 
textbooks  to  note  the  growing  realization  of  this  task. 
Industrial  Studies  of  the  United  States,  Commercial  Geography y 
Industrial  History,  Makers  of  Many  Things,  Wheat-Growing 
in  Canada,  United  States,  and  the  Argentine,  How  the  World 
is  Fed,  Clothed,  and  Housed,  Diggers  in  the  Earth,  The  Farmer 
and  his  Friends,  The  Book  of  Wheat,  Book  of  Cotton,  Book  of 
Corn,  The  Story  of  Sugar,  Story  of  Oil,  Leather  Manufacture, 
—  such  occupational  books  are  rapidly  finding  place  in 
schools  everywhere.  The  movement  indicates  a  realization 
of  the  need  of  enlightenment  as  the  basis  of  occupational 
adjustment  in  a  democracy. 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  93 

One  finds  a  complete  list  of  occupations  in  the  reports  of 
the  Census.  They  are  classified  into  nine  major  fields  as 
shown  in  the  accompanying  table :  — 

'  Men  Women 

1.  Agriculture,   forestry   and 

animal  husbandry 10,851,702  1,807,501 

2.  Manufacturing    and    me- 
chanical industries 8,837,901  1,820,980 

S.  Trade 3,146,582  408,088 

4.  Transportation 2,531,075  106,596 

5.  Domestic    and     personal 

service 1,241,328         (25,000,000) 

6.  Clerical  occupations 1,143,829  593,224 

*t.  Extraction  of  minerals .  .  .        963,730  1,094 

8.  Professional  service 929,684  735,885 

9.  Public   service    (not   else- 
where classified) 445,733  13,558 

Geography  divides  the  world  up  into  a  few  grand  divi- 
sions; these  grand  divisions  into  several  score  countries  and 
states;  and  then  presents  the  situation  in  each  country  one 
after  the  other.  In  the  same  way,  in  acquiring  an  under- 
standing of  the  world  of  occupations,  we  may  well  divide 
it  into  nine  grand  divisions;  divide  the  latter  into  several 
score  occupational  fields;  and  then  present  studies  of  the 
important  ones.  As  in  the  geography,  it  is  possible  to  group 
related  divisions,  and  study  many  cognate  occupations  at 
one  time.  Much  can  be  done  on  the  basis  of  type-studies, 
where  a  single  occupation  studied  intensively  can  be  used 
to  reveal  the  situation  in  several  similar  fields.  It  is  also 
possible  to  view  and  study  the  whole  occupational  realm  at 
once  by  considering  single  aspects  one  after  the  other;  as 
for  example,  wages,  hours  of  labor,  seasonal  fluctuations, 
profits,  desirability  of  different  vocations  from  a  hygienic 
point  of  view,  social  desirability  of  different  occupations, 
etc.    When  these  methods  of  attacking  the  problem  are 


94  THE  CURRICULUM 

considered,  it  is  not  so  formidable  as  may  at  first  sight 
appear. 

What  are  the  things  that  i>eople  need  to  know  for  supjer- 
vision  of  occupational  groups?  Let  us  here  mention  seven 
things :  — 

1.  They  need  definite  knowledge  of  the  human  needs  that 
are  to  be  ministered  to  by  the  different  occupations. 

2.  They  must  know  definitely  the  character  of  occupa- 
tional service  required  for  meeting  the  needs  fully  and 
without  waste. 

S.  They  must  know  the  extent  to  which  any  occupational 
group  is  actually  delivering  the  required  character  of 
service. 

4.  They  must  know  what  material  and  other  facilities  are 
needed  by  each  occupation  for  performing  service  of 
the  kind  required. 

5.  They  need  to  know  the  extent  to  which  the  community 
is  actually  providing  the  needed  facilities. 

6.  They  need  a  knowledge  of  technical  processes  only  suf- 
ficient for  understanding  the  findings  of  inspectorial 
experts  concerning  the  eflBciency,  economy,  and  general 
social  effectiveness  of  occupational  services. 

7.  They  need  full  appreciation  and  imderstanding  of 
the  dependence  of  group  up>on  group.  It  is  this  vision 
of  interdependence,  of  common  membership  within 
a  common  group,  which  creates  those  sympathetic 
attitudes  necessary  for  considerateness  in  the  super- 
vision. 

Naturally  it  is  not  meant  that  memories  shall  be  stored 
with  great  masses  of  recallable  facts  relative  to  all  of  these 
things;  or  that  the  educational  task  is  any  such  memoriza- 
tion. Man  has  no  such  memory-capacity.  And  more  seri- 
ous educational  malpractice  can  scarcely  be  imagined. 

The  things  which  the  public  needs  to  know  about  each 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  95 

occupation  has  a  counterpart  in  the  things  that  the  spe- 
ciaKzed  workers  need  to  know  for  willing  and  intelligent  ac- 
quiescence in  the  supervision.  This  represents  a  vital  por- 
tion of  specialized  vocational  training,  treatment  of  which 
was  deferred  because  of  its  intimate  relation  to  the  super- 
visory problem. 

The  specialized  workers  need  a  more  detailed  knowledge 
than  society  in  general  concerning  their  own  occupation 
along  the  seven  following  lines :  — 

1.  Full  knowledge  of  the  human  needs  which  their  occu- 
pation is  to  serve. 

2.  Specialized  knowledge  of  the  character  of  service  which 
they  are  to  render. 

3.  The  extent  to  which  they  are  actually  rendering  such 
service. 

4.  Accurate  knowledge  of  what  they  must  demand  from 
the  general  public  in  order  that  they  may  have  the 
facilities  needed  for  effective  service. 

5.  Accurate  knowledge  of  the  extent  to  which  they  are 
being  supplied  with  the  needed  facilities. 

6.  Such  full  knowledge  of  technical  processes  and  of 
results  secured  by  their  group  that  they  can  adjudge 
the  justice  of  the  findings  of  community  inspectorial 
experts;  and  accept  them  when  just,  and  correct  them 
when  unjust. 

7.  Full  and  specialized  understanding  of  the  dependence 
of  their  group  upon  the  social  whole;  and  of  the  total 
community  upon  their  group.  This  consciousness  of 
sharing  a  common  lot,  and  of  requiring  reciprocal  sup- 
port, lies  at  the  root  of  willing  submission  to  the  gen- 
eral mandates  and  of  willing  service  on  the  part  of  those 
supervised.  It  is  this  which  shows  the  specialized  work- 
ers that  the  road  of  self-interest  and  the  road  of  service 
are  one  and  the  same. 


96  THE  CURRICULUM 

When  both  general  public  and  occupational  specialists 
have  these  types  of  information,  the  intelligence-basis  will 
be  laid  for  effective  social  control  in  this  difficult  field.  Each 
side  has  rights;  and  each  has  duties.  The  knowledge  re- 
ferred to  permits  a  clear  definition  of  both  rights  and  duties 
by  all  interested  parties.  It  also  lays  a  broad  foundation 
of  common  understanding  upon  which  all  can  meet  in  the 
current  adjustment  of  conflicting  claims.  For  it  must  be  kept 
in  mind,  as  we  shall  hereafter  discuss,  that  the  push  and  pull 
of  specialized  groups,  in  which  each  tends  to  exaggerate 
its  services  and  its  rights,  are  inevitable.  Social  tensions  and 
strains,  requiring  constant  and  ever-renewed  adjustment, 
are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  life-process,  whether  phy- 
siological, biological,  or  social.  Intelligence  cannot  obliter- 
ate them  but  it  can  control.  The  stronger  they  are,  the 
greater  is  the  indication  of  life  and  of  power.  But  also  the 
greater  is  the  need  of  social  education. 

Enlightenment  alone  can  bring  genuine  industrial  democ- 
racy. An  examination  of  the  factors  shows  the  futility  of 
much  of  the  controversy  as  to  the  best  type  of  economic 
mechanism.  We  have  public  ownership  and  cooperative 
management  in  some  of  our  occupational  fields,  such  as  pub- 
lic education,  letter  and  parcel  transportation,  fire  pro- 
tection, street  and  road  construction  and  maintenance,  etc. 
We  leave  to  private  ownership  and  volunteer  management 
most  of  our  industries,  believing  that  on  the  whole  this  is 
best.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  whether  the  labors  are  of  one 
type  or  of  the  other,  the  thing  needed  and  wanted  is  sendee. 
The  kinds  of  enlightenment  needed  for  social  supervision  of 
both  types  are  exactly  the  same.  Where  society  is  intro- 
ducing and  developing  effective  supervision,  the  methods 
are  scarcely  affected  by  the  question  whether  the  indus- 
try is  publicly  or  privately  owned,  —  i.e.,  whether  by  a  few 
stockholders,  or  by  the  many  stockholders  of  a  total  com- 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  07 

miinity.  Either  plan  is  good  or  bad  according  to  the  way  it 
is  managed.  With  enlightened  social  supervision,  effective 
service  can  be  secured  under  either  plan.  But  without  en- 
lightened supervision,  effective  service  can  result  from 
neither.  Not  the  mechanism,  but  the  intelligence,  is  the  prin- 
cipal thing. 

Before  education  can  proceed,  it  must  have  the  facts  con- 
cerning the  various  occupations.  At  present  many  of  the 
necessary  facts  are  inaccessible.  Secrecy  in  the  interest  of 
individual  ends  rather  than  publicity  in  the  interest  of 
the  public  weal  is  the  rule,  not  the  exception.  As  a  nation 
we  have  not  yet  come  to  value  enlightenment  as  the  basis 
of  democracy.  But  the  light  is  nowadays  being  turned  into 
all  sorts  of  places.  Occupational  surveys  are  being  made. 
Official  public-service  bodies  are  accumulating  facts  for 
their  purposes,  to  many  of  which  publicity  is  being  per- 
mitted. In  proportion  as  an  industry  is  performing  actual 
public  service,  it  is  always  glad  to  have  it  known;  and  since 
the  quantity  increases  year  by  year,  the  quantity  of  volun- 
tary publicity  increases  also.  When  an  industrial  group  is 
particularly  anxious  to  prevent  publicity,  more  and  more 
the  public  is  coming  to  suspect  that  there  is  exactly  where 
publicity  is  needed. 

Enlightened  business  men  are  coming  to  understand  the 
publicity  implications  of  social  interdependence.  The  salu- 
tary attitude  of  the  business  world  was  recently  well  ex- 
pressed by  Mr.  E.  H.  Gary,  chairman  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation,  in  an  address  before  a  business  conven- 
tion, for  which  he  took  as  a  theme  the  Biblical  quotation: 
"For  none  of  us  hveth  to  himself,  and  no  man  dieth  to 
himself."  Among  other  things  he  said:  "In  the  last  decade 
there  has  been  a  pronounced  change  in  the  attitude  of  large 
business  interests  concerning  the  disclosure  of  facts  and 
figures  to  the  general  public.    Many  now  voluntarily  and 


98  THE  CURRICULUM 

without  the  requirement  of  law  make  regular  and  complete 
reports  so  that  any  one  interested  may  know  the  results 
of  the  business  and  the  general  policy  of  the  company.'*  Mr. 
Gary  suggested  a  publicity  tribunal  which  would  serve  the 
interests  both  of  the  business  world  and  of  the  general  pub- 
lic. "There  is  abundant  evidence,"  he  continued,  "that  at 
present  the  great  general  public  is  willing  to  meet  halfway 
the  individual  or  corporation  in  the  consideration  of  all 
questions  that  affect  private  or  public  interests."  The  move- 
ment is  unmistakable.  Facts  are  becoming  accessible.  The 
use  of  such  facts  for  the  development  of  general  enlighten- 
ment is  becoming  possible. 

Surveys  may  discover  the  facts.  But  the  organization  of 
the  materials  for  teaching  purposes  presents  educational 
problems  of  great  complexity.  The  direct  fact-learning  and 
recitation  method,  with  which  our  profession  is  so  familiar, 
is  too  primitive  and  inefficient  for  so  large  a  task.  Let  us 
indicate  some  of  the  better  ways  that  are  being  introduced 
into  progressive  school  systems. 

Each  occupation  is  to  be  seen  and  vitally  understood  as 
a  group  of  men  at  work.  One  learns  the  labors  of  a  group  by 
entering  into  their  labors;  by  performing  them  actually; 
by  performing  them  in  play;  by  entering  into  them  sympa- 
thetically through  observation;  by  imaginative  participa- 
tion as  they  are  reconstructed  in  well- written  history,  geog- 
raphy, literature,  biography,  etc.  It  is  not  by  learning 
abstract  verbal  facts  about  a  group,  but  rather  by  doing 
in  one  way  or  another  what  that  group  does  that  one  comes 
really  to  understand  it.  The  doing  lays  the  interest-basis 
necessary  for  fact-accumulation  and  assimilation;  and  for 
right  valuations  and  attitudes.  Education  must  proceed 
by  the  active  route  not  because  we  are  aiming  at  fewer  facts 
than  formerly  but  because  we  must  aim  at  far  more;  and 
must  therefore  employ  effective  methods. 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  99 

1.  Concrete  occupational  activities 

Professor  James,  in  his  delightful  essay,  On  a  Certain 
Blindness  in  Human  Beings,  makes  clear  that  one  can  un- 
derstand and  realize  the  experiences  that  make  up  the  lives 
of  others  only  as  one  has  participated  actually  or  sympa- 
thetically in  those  experiences.  The  detached  and  unmoved 
onlooker  remains  blind  to  the  actual  significance  of  life 
about  him.  Life  must  be  lived  in  order  to  be  known.  "The 
right  way  of  seeing  each  other's  work"  requires  that  we  en- 
ter sympathetically  and  vividly  into  the  occupational  ex- 
perience of  others.  The  first  step  is  to  do  the  kind  of  work 
that  they  do. 

Boys  are  given  courses  in  woodworking  in  our  schools, 
not  because  they  are  to  become  cabinet-makers  or  car- 
penters, but  because  they  need  an  understanding  of  the  hard 
and  imyielding  nature  of  the  materials  used  in  woodworking 
vocations;  and  a  feeling  of  the  arduous  and  monotonous  toil 
necessary  for  shaping  the  materials  into  finished  products. 
The  woodworking  is  to  give  him  the  alphabet  of  experience 
in  one  wide  field  of  human  vocation.  Its  purpose  is  to  open 
an  experiential  window  out  upon  the  world  through  which 
he  can  rightly  see  its  labors. 

For  the  same  reason  we  give  many  practical  activities: 
metal-working,  leather-work,  printing,  bookbinding,  arts 
and  crafts,  cooking,  sewing,  embroidery,  millinery,  school 
gardening,  weaving,  rug-making,  dyeing,  painting,  varnish- 
ing, pattern-making,  pottery  work,  poultry  care,  laundry 
work,  banking,  buying  and  selling,  practical  accounting, 
and  others.  These  activities  give  to  boys  and  girls  a  sense 
of  reality  as  to  the  nature  of  labor  and  of  the  materials  used 
in  the  labor.  The  development  of  this  sense  of  reality  is  one 
of  the  most  urgent  of  necessities,  especially  for  boys  and 
girls  who  grow  up  in  our  cities.    When  our  population  was 


100  THE  CURRICULUM 

mostly  agricultural,  the  boy  on  the  farm  with  hoe  and  rake 
and  plough  cultivated  the  fields;  with  axe  and  saw,  he  pro- 
vided fuel  for  the  family,  built  and  mended  fences,  bins, 
barns,  and  other  farm  structures.  He  pitched  the  hay,  husked 
the  corn,  cut  the  feed,  milked  the  cows,  in  all  weathers,  heat 
and  cold  and  storm.  Thus  he  secured  his  necessary  sense 
of  reality;  his  understanding  of  the  hard  and  unyielding  na- 
ture of  the  material  world  that  lies  at  the  basis  of  economic 
industry.  The  girl  in  sewing,  cooking,  mending,  washing 
dishes,  laundry,  general  housekeeping,  canning  and  pre- 
serving, in  helping  with  the  poultry,  the  gardening,  etc.,  wr- 
equally  favored.  They  were  well-trained  in  the  Great 
School. 

But  to-day  in  our  towns  and  cities  the  boy  has  no  spade 
or  hoe,  no  axe  or  saw,  no  coal-hod,  nor  any  other  oppor- 
tunity for  performing  a  portion  of  the  world's  labor,  and 
thereby  acquiring  a  sanifying  sense  of  reality.  Except  for  his 
sports,  perhaps,  there  is  no  call  for  him  ever  really  to  exert 
himself  in  any  strenuous  manner.  The  world  moves  visually 
before  him;  but  on  the  vocational  side,  it  is  largely  but  a 
picture  world  like  the  motion  picture  on  the  screen.  He  sees 
men  digging  on  our  streets,  but  unless  he  has  himself  wielded 
the  heavy  tools  of  labor,  and  felt  the  burden  that  such  men 
bear,  he  has  not  the  experiential  alphabet  for  understand- 
ing or  appreciating  the  things  that  pass  before  his  eyes. 
The  deeper  things  of  the  situation  are  to  be  seen,  not  with 
the  eyes,  but  with  the  sympathetic  vision  that  has  grown 
up  out  of  like  experience.  Without  this  he  may  see  the  ex- 
ternals; he  cannot,  however,  see  the  labor  itself.  Like  one 
born  blind  who  cannot  know  color,  he  is  doomed  to  remain 
blind  to  the  nature  of  actual  realities. 

Since  the  purpose  of  the  practical  activities  is  the  opening 
of  experiential  windows  out  over  the  diverse  occupational 
fields,  obviously  the  range  of  activities  should  be  as  wide  as 
conditions  permit. 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAmiNG    ,       ;    ^     H>1 

There  should  be  work  with  wood  —  pine,  oak,  poplar, 
spruce,  fir,  hemlock,  birch,  maple,  walnut,  ash,  cedar,  ma- 
hogany, seasoned  and  unseasoned,  straight  and  crooked, 
hard  and  soft,  sapwood  and  heartwood,  large  rough  work 
and  fine  accurate  work.  In  connection  with  this  naturally 
comes  work  with  paints,  oils,  varnishes,  stains,  shellacs, 
alcohols,  pumice,  sandpaper,  and  other  finishing  materials. 

There  should  be  work  with  metals  —  iron,  steel,  copper, 
brass,  tin,  aluminum,  nickel,  silver,  alloys,  wire,  sheet  metal, 
forgings,  castings.  Pupils  should  become  acquainted  with 
metals  in  the  form  of  ores  and  compounds.  They  should 
have  an  opportunity  to  reduce  them,  to  refine  them,  to 
mould  them  in  the  foundry,  and  to  shape  them  in  the  mak- 
ing of  practical  things. 

-  There  should  be  work  involving  the  application  of  elec- 
tricity to  practical  affairs  —  electric  bells,  wiring,  toasters, 
cookers,  irons,  electric  lighting,  the  telephone,  the  telegraph, 
clock  controls,  electro-plating,  cells,  dynamos,  motors,  with 
construction  of  these  things. 

There  should  be  work  in  printing,  composition,  typeset- 
ting, presswork,  copper-plate-making,  appHed  art  and  de- 
sign, bookbinding,  cover-ornamentation,  printing  of  bills, 
accounts,  recipes,  programs,  invitations,  supplementary 
material  for  classes,  and  the  like.  Closely  related  to  this 
is  cardboard  construction,  box-making,  blotter-pads,  desk- 
pads,  etc. 

There  should  also  be  work  involving  leather  —  the  mak- 
ing of  bags,  purses,  portfolios,  bill-books,  coverings  of  many 
kinds  of  balls,  belts,  satchels,  suit-cases,  trunks,  handles, 
harness,  upholstery,  etc.  All  important  kinds  of  leather 
should  be  used,  as  well  as  imitation  leathers.  Various  kinds 
of  dressings,  finishings,  preservatives  should  be  employed. 

There  should  be  work  with  clay  and  allied  earth  products, 
plaster  of  paris,  cement,  porcelain,  glass;  the  actual  making 


102        ,   . .  ^    . . .  ,  TH?:  CURRICULUM 

of  brick  aiidi  tile,  of  lime  and  cement,  from  the  original 
materials;  pottery-making,  cement-block  construction,  the 
making  and  mending  of  cement  walks,  bricklaying,  tile- 
laying.  The  maintenance  of  the  school  plant  affords  excel- 
lent opportunities  for  practical  labors  of  these  types. 

A  large  field  is  that  of  textiles  —  wool,  cotton,  linen,  silk, 
hemp,  jute,  Manila  fiber,  etc.  So  far  as  possible,  the  pupils 
should  come  into  contact  with  the  fibers  in  their  original 
raw  state;  and  understand  through  exp)erience  the  kinds  of 
labor  involved  in  bringing  them  to  finished  form.  With 
wool  it  should  include  the  original  washing,  combing,  card- 
ing, spinning,  dyeing,  weaving,  fulling,  shearing,  shrinking, 
and  pressing.  Flax  can  be  grown  in  the  school  garden,  the 
fiber  can  be  separated  by  the  children  themselves,  spun, 
woven,  and  bleached.  Other  work  is  sewing  and  garment-* 
making  of  every  sort,  with  every  usual  kind  of  cloth  — 
garment-design,  garment-fitting,  embroidery,  millinery, 
laces,  curtains,  hangings,  carpets,  rugs,  etc. 

Closely  related  to  this  is  work  with  straw,  raffia,  cane, 
rattan,  etc.,  in  the  making  of  mats,  hats,  baskets,  trays, 
cases  of  various  kinds,  chair-seats,  chair-backs,  and  cane 
furniture. 

There  should  be  work  with  foods.  This  should  involve 
cooking  of  all  common  kinds,  canning,  preserving,  starch- 
making,  sugar-making,  oil  manufacture,  pickling,  butter- 
making,  cheese  manufacture,  condensed-milk  manufacture. 
Closely  connected  with  this  is  the  making  of  soaps,  and 
other  cleansing  agents. 

Not  only  should  one  have  experiential  opportunities  in 
these  fields  of  manufacture  or  transformation,  but  also  in 
the  production  of  the  original  raw  materials  in  farm  and 
garden.  He  should  have  an  opportunity  to  raise  corn,  pota- 
toes, vegetables,  fruits,  etc.,  in  sufficient  quantity  and  vari- 
ety to  learn  the  nature  of  the  labors.  He  should  have  work 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  103 

involving  soil  preparation,  fertilizing,  seed-testing,  planting, 
cultivating,  protection  from  insects,  drainage,  irrigation, 
adaptation  to  seasonal  conditions,  harvesting,  storing,  mar- 
keting. He  should  have  an  opportunity  likewise  to  work 
with  poultry,  live-stock,  dairy  cattle,  bees,  and  with  such 
other  agricultural  matters  as  the  administrative  Hmitations 
will  permit. 

One's  education  also  requires  some  partfbipation  in  the 
activities  of  the  commercial  world,  buying  and  selling,  com- 
petition, salesmanship,  bookkeeping,  accounting,  the  han- 
dling of  money,  banking,  savings  banks,  insurance,  etc.  The 
school  buys  much;  it  ought  to  buy  more  in  order  to  take 
care  of  the  wide  range  of  activities  here  indicated.  The 
school  at  present  sells  little;  it  ought  to  sell  very  much  more. 
These  activities  will  require  much  bookkeeping  and  careful 
accounting.  They  will  require  banking  and  the  handling  of 
money.  So  far  as  it  is  administratively  possible,  conditions 
should  be  so  devised  that  students  can  participate  in  these 
serious  commercial  activities.  This  is  now  being  done  in 
many  schools  where  the  pupils  of  the  domestic  science 
classes  conduct  the  lunch-room,  the  supply-store,  or  where 
they  do  contract  work  in  the  shops. 

"All  of  these  things?"  the  appalled  teacher  asks.  In 
inclining  toward  the  affirmative,  let  us  point  to  the  fact  that 
practically  every  one  of  the  occupations  involved  is  already 
treated  in  our  geographies.  Now,  what  is  the  purpose  of  the 
book-study  concerning  occupations  and  products  in  the 
geography?  Apparently  it  is  an  attempt  to  develop  an 
understanding  of  the  diversified  human  occupations.  But 
how  can  this  be  developed  through  book-study  if  the  chil- 
dren have  not  that  alphabet  of  experience  necessary  for 
giving  meaning  to  the  words  of  the  text?  How  can  they 
appreciate  the  great  cotton  industry  of  the  South,  for  ex- 
ample, as  they  read  of  it  in  their  geographies,  if  they  have 


104  THE  CURRICULUM 

never  seen  or  handled  or  cultivated  a  cotton  plant?  How 
can  they  appreciate  the  process  of  ginning,  as  they  read  of 
it,  if  they  have  never  had  the  experience  of  actually  sepa- 
rating the  fiber  from  the  seeds?  How  can  they  appreciate 
the  manufacture  of  cotton-seed  oil,  cotton-seed  cake,  etc., 
if  they  have  never  come  into  experiential  contact  with  the 
cotton  seed,  and  do  not  know  whether  it  most  resembles  a 
mustard  seed  ot  a  walnut?  How  appreciate  the  great  cotton 
textile  industries  if  they  have  never  had  anything  to  do 
with  carding  and  spinning,  weaving  and  dyeing?  Without 
concrete  experience  with  the  occupational  materials  and 
processes,  the  students  as  they  read  the  geographical  treat- 
ment of  occupations,  but  tread  a  hazy  realm  of  verbal  vague- 
ness, lit  here  and  there  with  chance  flashes  from  their  inci- 
dental daily  experience,  but  in  general  obscure  and  dimly 
visioned. 

Manual  training  throughout  the  elementary  school  and 
largely  in  the  high  school  should  have  for  a  primary  aim, 
not  skill,  not  the  production  of  a  salable  product,  but  an 
appreciation  of  the  materials,  processes,  and  products  of  a 
wide  range  of  adult  occupations.  It  is  the  most  concrete 
portion  of  the  home-geography  of  occupations.  Combined 
with  observation  of  neighborhood  labors  and  products,  we 
have  the  whole  of  home-geography  on  the  occupational  side. 

The  major  portion  of  the  concrete  activities  at  all  stages 
of  maturity  will  be  on  the  order  of  play  —  constructive, 
operative,  and  participative.  It  seems  that  some  of  them, 
however,  as  training  continues,  should  be  raised  to  the  plane 
of  work.  Without  actual  work  in  an  atmosphere  of  work, 
with  the  spirit  of  work  alive  within  the  participants,  they 
do  not  sufficiently  enter  into  work-experience.  Their  activi- 
ties may  have  a  commendable  width  and  variety,  but  will 
be  lacking  in  depth.  In  the  later  stages  of  the  training,  some- 
thing more  is  required  than  manual  training  in  a  play-shop. 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  105 

Since  the  end  of  the  training  is  an  understanding  of  the 
World  of  Work,  this  serious  level  must  therefore  be  reached 
and  explored  in  some  degree.  It  is  this  that  makes  necessary 
a  certain  amount  of  skill;  the  production  of  a  salable  eco- 
nomic product;  and  a  genuine  shop-atmosphere.  The  work- 
level  will  be  most  fully  reached  by  the  student  in  the  things 
in  which  he  is  specializing;  and  generally  through  part-time 
cooperative  arrangements.  ^ 

2.  Observation 

Having  mastered  the  alphabet  of  experience,  it  is  possi- 
ble for  a  student  to  enter  into  the  world's  experience  in 
more  expeditious  ways.  The  concrete  experience  gives  the 
imagery  and  apperception  materials;  and  the  interests.  The 
student  is  then  equipped  for  understanding  occupations 
through  visit  and  observation.  In  cities  opportunities  are 
numerous.  Many  can  be  visited  and  viewed  by  young 
people  in  the  course  of  their  individual  experience.  Where 
inaccessible  to  incidental  observation,  in  most  cases  man- 
agers are  glad  to  arrange  for  systematic  observation  by 
classes  or  groups. 

Observation  of  occupations  must  be  a  portion  of  the 
preparation  for  the  reading  experiences.  It  must  provide  a 
portion  of  the  imagery,  the  apperceptions-mass,  and  the 
interest.  In  the  school  shops,  students  can  secure  basic 
experience  with  materials,  processes,  and  products;  but  the 
world  of  occupation  there  developed  is  diminutive,  primi- 
tive, fragmentary,  and  sometimes  a  very  artificial  and  dis- 
torted representation  of  the  actual  industry  itself.  To  revert 
to  our  cotton-study  illustration,  students  in  the  textile  room 
can  get  pretty  accurate  ideas  of  fibers,  dyes,  the  basic  ele- 
ments of  spinning  and  weaving  machinery,  and  the  nature 
of  certain  simple  types  of  fabric.  But  the  school  shop  as  a 
whole  bears  little  resemblance  to  a  large  textile  mill  with  its 


THE  CURRICULUM 

'gresii  engines,  its  huge  dyeing-vats  and  drying  facilities,  its 
countless  spinning-machines  and  power-looms,  and  the 
bustle  and  whir  of  busy  production.  If  for  one's  reading  one 
has  only  the  meager  imagery  supplied  by  the  school  shop, 
then  one  has  but  poor  preparation  for  it.  We  find  here  the 
justification  for  the  ever-increasing  use  of  motion-pictures 
for  greatly  extending  one's  visual  observation  of  concrete 
processes  anAonditions. 

Observation  of  an  occupation  is  greatly  quickened  if  the 
observer  can  be  a  participant  and  carry  a  portion  of  the 
responsibility.  There  is  nothing  like  responsibility  for  giv- 
ing eyes  to  an  individual;  and  especially  eyes  for  values  and 
relations.  It  is  of  immeasurably  greater  value  for  a  boy  to 
work  for  a  season  on  a  farm  or  in  a  store  than  it  is  merely 
to  visit  idly  about  the  place.  The  observation  through  visit 
alone  by  classes  or  groups,  and  that  for  but  a  brief  time,  can 
give  much  valuable  apperceptive  imagery;  but  its  limita- 
tions must  be  noted;  and  provision  made,  as  far  as  possible, 
for  actual  participation  in  the  labors  of  occupational  groups. 
The  pedagogy  which  sanctions  the  demand  is  simple  and 
clear.  The  difficulty  arises  in  connection  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  new  activities  that  will  not  easily  transfer  to  the 
schools.  Present  part-time  arrangements  are  made  only  for 
specialized  training.  In  time  we  may  see  our  way  clear  for 
similar  arrangements  for  some  of  the  general  training. 
Promise  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  auspicious  movement 
for  promoting  outside  activities  through  giving  credit  for 
home  work. 

One  important  type  of  observation  relates  to  the  study 
of  the  products  of  industry.  Social  supervision  of  industries 
is  designed,  among  other  things,  to  secure  from  the  special- 
ized groups  a  type  of  product  that  fully  meets  human  needs. 
In  general  an  industry  will  be  left  free  to  use  whatever 
materials  and  processes  that  it  chooses  —  on  condition  that 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  107 

they  result  in  the  right  type  of  product.  Of  occupations  in 
general,  therefore,  the  pubHc  will  need  no  detailed  technical 
understanding  of  materials  and  processes.  They  need,  how- 
ever, as  consumers  to  he  competent  judges  of  the  products  of 
industry.  Boys  and  girls  coming  out  of  our  manual-training 
courses  need  not  so  much  to  be  skilled  in  making  furniture, 
tools,  electrical  appliances,  garments,  curtains,  etc.,  as  to  be 
skilled  in  judging  the  quality  of  such  things  as  they  are 
offered  in  the  market.  Their  shop-training  is  valuable  for 
developing  judgment.  But  if  their  ideas  are  limited  to  what 
they  meet  in  the  school  shops  in  making  things,  then  their 
ideas  will  be  too  primitive,  crude,  and  meager  for  adequate 
judgment  of  the  products  upon  the  market.  The  latter  are 
immeasurably  more  complicated  in  countless  subtle  ways. 

One  full  department  of  training  should,  therefore,  be  the 
systematic  and  adequate  study  of  the  finished  products  of 
industry.  Along  with  shop  experience  in  making  chairs, 
boys  need  to  examine  and  discuss  many  types  of  chairs. 
They  will  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  principles  of  construc- 
tion, of  utiHty,  of  aesthetic  design,  and  of  economic  costs. 
AJong  with  the  practical  activities  of  girls  in  making  cur- 
tains, for  example,  they  need  to  refine  and  complete  their 
powers  of  judgment  through  examination  and  study  of 
many  types  of  curtains  in  the  light  of  general  principles. 

Carried  to  its  logical  limits,  this  means  that  in  many 
fields  we  need  a  continuous  exhibit  of  products  which  reveal 
all  types  of  excellence  and  defect.  Though  startling  at  first 
glance,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable.  We  discover  here 
another  need  that  once  was  simple  enough  not  to  require 
the  work  of  the  schools,  which  has  grown  so  complex  that 
it  can  be  adequately  taken  care  of  in  no  other  way.  Recog- 
nition of  the  educational  task  is  really  appearing  a  long  time 
after  the  work  should  have  been  undertaken.  As  a  people 
we  have  been  deceived  long  enough  by  those  who  have  been 


108  THE  CURRICULUM 

in  a  position  to  profit  by  ignorance  of  materials,  qualities, 
and  prices.  Just  as  occupational  inefficiency  needs  to  he  over- 
come in  the  field  of  'production,  so  also  it  needs  to  be  overcome  in 
the  field  of  the  consumer's  judgment. 

But  how  can  the  schools  have  all  the  expensive  things 
needed  for  such  an  exhibit  of  economic  products?  Where 
can  they  be  stored?  How  is  deterioration  to  be  prevented? 
How  are  perishable  products  to  be  taken  care  of?  How 
meet  the  problem  of  ever-changing  styles,  and  of  current 
improvements?  Would  not  much  of  the  exhibit  be  obso- 
lete almost  as  soon  as  arranged?  And  how  are  obsolete 
but  expensive  things  to  be  disposed  of? 

Such  questions  grow  out  of  a  type  of  educational  thought 
that,  let  us  hope,  will  rapidly  grow  obsolete,  —  a  type  that 
assumes  that  everything  needed  in  education  must  be  found 
at  the  school  plant.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  economic  products 
must  be  observed  where  they  can  be  observed  effectively 
and  economically.  This  is  generally  where  they  are  manu- 
factured, stored  for  distribution,  exhibited  for  sale;  or  where 
they  are  being  used  in  home  and  street,  in  field  and  shop, 
and  in  the  other  places  of  the  community.  This  constitutes 
a  continuous  community  exhibit  of  the  things.  It  permits 
them  to  be  seen  in  their  natural  settings  and  relationships, 
taken  out  of  which  they  lose  half  their  significance. 

3.  Occupational  readings 

Occupations  are  to  be  seen  in  their  nation-wide  and 
world-wide  distribution.  The  means  must  be  mainly  read- 
ing. This  will  be  largely  narrative  in  character.  As  one 
reads  concerning  any  occupation,  the  aim  will  be  the  re- 
construction in  the  imagination  of  the  reader  of  an  inner 
world  of  occupational  experiences  in  which,  lost  to  sense" 
of  time  and  place,  he  can  participate,  as  a  shadow- 
member  of  the  group,  so  to  speak;  and  thus  enter  sympa- 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  109 

thetically  Into  the  experiences  with  an  intellectual  and 
emotional  vividness  not  greatly  dissimilar  to  that  which 
accompanies  actual  objective  observation  and  participation. 
As  one  reads  Captains  CourageoiLs,  for  example,  one  is  for 
the  time,  so  far  as  his  consciousness  is  concerned,  a  fisher- 
man off  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  almost  as  completely 
as  if  he  were  there  in  the  flesh.  Then  as  one  reads  The 
Lumberman,  one's  habitation  is  shifted  to  the  wilds  of  Michi- 
gan in  its  early  days,  and  one  becomes  an  active  and  inter- 
ested participant  in  the  logging  industry  along  the  rivers. 
Let  him  again  at  another  time  read  a  spirited  history  of 
transportation  in  our  country  from  colonial  times  to  the 
present.  One  becomes  for  a  time  an  early  colonist,  and 
travels  and  transports  his  goods  in  the  primitive  ways. 
Later  he  is  a  shadow-member  of  the  group  about  Robert 
Fulton  as  he  labors  with  the  problem  of  applying  steam  to 
river  navigation.  A  little  later  he  joins  the  other  group  and 
participates  in  the  experiment  of  applying  steam  to  over- 
land transportation.  And  thus  the  history,  if  concrete  and 
vivid  and  full,  reconstructs  experience  and  permits  him  to 
be  one  with  group  after  group  and  to  participate  in  its 
affairs  from  early  days  down  to  the  present.  In  the  recon- 
structions of  stirring  narrative,  one's  experience  can  be  as 
much  wider  than  observation  as  the  latter  is  wider  than  the 
circle  of  one's  individual  labors. 

The  readings  concerning  occupations  will  be  of  a  varied 
character:  history,  geography,  literature,  biography,  travels, 
current  events,  stories  of  inventions,  etc. 

Historical  readings  will  be  among  the  most  vital  for  the 
purpose.  It  is  true  that  the  practical  thing  desired  is  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  occupation  in  its  present  status.  But  history 
is  one  of  the  best  methods  of  showing  the  nature  of  the 
present.  It  reveals  the  constituents  of  a  situation  by  show- 
ing the  influences  that  have  produced  it;  and  which  are 


110  THE  CURRICULUM 

continuing  within  it.  It  is  impossible  to  understand  the 
railroad  situation  at  present,  for  example,  without  a  fairly 
extensive  understanding  of  the  influences  of  former  years 
that  have  made  it  what  it  now  is.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
steel  industry,  the  lumber  industry,  the  relations  between 
capital  and  labor,  the  growth  of  labor  unions,  etc.  Not  only 
does  history  reveal  the  facts,  but  if  the  human  element  is 
kept  foremost,  it  reveals  them  in  assimilable  ways.  One  can 
enter  sympathetically  into  the  labors  of  the  human  groups 
the  story  of  which  is  being  read.  Such  imaginative  partici- 
pation contains  many  of  the  factors  of  real  participation, 
and  more*nearly  approximates  the  nature  of  the  latter  than 
commonly  supposed. 

Public  education  has  scarcely  yet  recognized  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  purposes  treated  in  this  chapter.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  history  is  not  used  in  our  schools  as 
a  mode  of  revealing  the  growth  and  present  nature  of  oc- 
cupations. The  little  given  in  our  historical  textbooks  is 
so  minute,  fragmentary,  general,  and  vague,  that  it  cannot 
be  intended  by  the  writers  for  the  purposes  mentioned. 
For  example,  taking  a  dozen  textbooks  in  United  States 
history  commonly  used  in  the  elementary  schools,  and  eight 
texts  commonly  used  in  the  high  schools,  it  was  found  that 
the  average  number  of  pages  devoted  to  occupational  topics 
was  so  small  as  to  be  negligible  for  training.  The  number  of 
pages  is  shown  in  the  following  table ;  — 


Inventions 

Tariff  and  free  trade , 

Railroads 

Canals 

Manufacturing 

Foreign  commerce .  . 
Mining 


Elementary  High-school 

texts 

texts 

5.3 

3.3 

3,7 

8.9 

2.7 

5.2 

2.5 

2.7 

2.5 

2.0 

2.3 

1.6 

2.3 

.5 

OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  111 

Banks  and  banking 2.0  4.8 

Relations  of  capital  and  labor 1.8  4.1 

Agriculture 1.4  1.6 

Roads  and  road  transportation 1.2  ".7 

Telegraph 1.1  ,3 

Domestic  commerce 1.0  2.4 

Labor  organizations .6  1.9 

Savings  banks .6  .2 

Newspapers  and  magazines .5  .7 

Postal  service .5  1.6 

Fisheries .4  .4 

Telephone .4  .2 

Wages 2  1.0 

Patents  and  copyrights .0  .0 

Child  labor /  .0  .3 

Women  in  industry .0  .2 

Unemplojmaent .0  .3 

Cost  of  living :..  .0  .2 

If  any  one  believes  the  average  treatment  of  these  topics 
to  be  sufficient,  he  can  easily  test  the  matter.  Let  him  send 
the  five  pages  on  banks  and  banking  to  a  list  of  prominent 
bankers  requesting  their  judgment  whether  it  presents  an 
adequate  revelation  of  the  growth  of  banking  in  our  coun- 
try, and  as  its  outcome,  an  adequate  picture  of  its  present 
status.  Let  him  send  the  three  or  five  pages  on  railroad 
development  to  prominent  leaders  of  the  railroad  world  with 
a  similar  request.  Let  him  inquire  of  labor  unions  if  the  two 
or  three  pages  devoted  to  them  present  a  satisfactory  ac- 
coimt  of  the  development  of  their  present  status  and  rela- 
tions. It  is  not  difficult  to  predict  the  character  of  the  replies. 

For  each  of  these  topics,  and  for  many  others,  there  is 
demonstrable  need  of  a  full  historical  treatment.  Justice  is 
not  to  be  done  to  the  railroad  situation,  for  example,  short 
of  two  hundred  or  five  hundred  pages.  This  should  present 
in  concrete,  vivid  narrative  a  reconstruction  of  experiences 
involved  in  the  development  of  railroads,  beginning  with 


112  THE  CURRICULUM 

the  early  inventions  and  experiments,  and  tracing  the 
expansion  of  Hnes  and  systems  down  to  the  present.  The 
story  should  fully  present  the  personal  experiences  of  rail- 
road leaders  and  groups:  only  as  the  "human  element "  is 
central  in  the  story  can  the  reader  actually  relive  the  experi- 
ences. But  at  the  same  time  it  should  reveal  fundamental 
processes  and  relationships  of  all  kinds :  the  social  influences 
that  called  railroads  into  being;  kinds  and  amounts  of  serv- 
ice rendered  to  different  regions;  modes  of  organization, 
financing,  regulation,  wages,  conditions  of  work,  etc.  The 
story  should  be  so  written  that  the  reader  can  see  and  appre- 
ciate the  valiant  national  service  that  the  railroads  have 
rendered  in  pushing  back  the  frontiers  and  opening  up  the 
wilderness  for  civilization;  in  carrying  the  means  of  civiUzed 
life  to  every  corner  of  our  land;  in  breaking  down  isolation, 
provincialism,  and  sectionalism;  and  in  promoting  the  gen- 
eral intra-national  welfare.  The  story  should  be  presented 
so  vividly  and  sympathetically  that  the  reader  can  enter 
whole-heartedly  into  the  action.  This  provides  right  condi- 
tions for  leaving  large  residues  of  information  acquired 
through  living  rather  than  memorizing;  and  the  materials 
and  experiences  out  of  which  the  abstract  general  principles 
are  to  be  distilled. 

Each  vocation  is  also  to  be  seen  geographically  in  its 
nation-wide  and  world-wide  distribution.  One  is  interested 
in  those  portions  that  touch  one's  own  afl^airs;  but  world- 
wide interdependency  makes  this  the  whole  of  the  world's 
industry.  The  price  of  wheat,  for  example,  in  any  com- 
munity is  determined,  not  by  the  amount  raised  in  that 
community,  but  by  the  world-situation  as  regards  wheat. 
Rightly  to  understand  it  one  must  read  a  long  chapter  on 
the  geography  of  wheat  —  a  chapter  that  changes  from 
year  to  year.  Likewise  he  must  read  similar  chapters  on  all 
of  the  important  occupations.  Recent  books  are  providing 
excellent  materials  for  the  purpose. 


OCCUPATIONAL  TRAINING  118 

Lack  of  space  forbids  discussion  here  of  the  occupational 
illumination  to  be  provided  by  literature,  travels,  biography, 
current  events,  popular  technology,  stories  of  inventions. 
Each  has  a  large  function  to  perform;  and  should  find  large 
place  in  the  curriculum  of  occupational  training. 

4.  Generalization 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  stressed  concrete  exi)eriences. 
But  each  provides  materials  for  discussion,  problem-solving, 
abstraction  of  elements  and  relations,  and  generalizations. 
The  work  in  the  shops,  sewing-rooms,  kitchens,  gardens, 
etc.,  will  provide  basic  materials  for  generalized  understand- 
ing of  design,  physical  science,  biological  science,  mathemat- 
ics, economic  relationships,  etc.  The  history,  geography, 
travels,  current  events,  etc.,  will  not  confine  themselves 
merely  to  a  concrete  construction  of  life  in  other  ages  and 
lands.  These  experiences  are  preparatory  to  generalizations. 
Pupils  are  to  see  the  broad  lines  of  influence  that  operate 
in  human  affairs;  to  see  how  some  of  them  may  promote 
human  welfare,  and  how  others  may  prevent  or  destroy; 
and  to  see  how  the  influences  haVe  been  and  may  be  con- 
trolled for  human  good.  It  is  in^this  connection  that  un- 
derstanding of  most  of  the  economic  and  social  principles 
required  for  effective  social  supervision  is  to  be  developed. 


PART  III 
EDUCATION  FOR  CITIZENSHIP 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN 

Education  cannot  take  the  first  step  in  training  for  citi- 
zenship until  it  has  particularized  the  characteristics  of  the 
good  citizen.  The  training  task  is  to  develop  those  charac- 
teristics. It  is  not  enough  to  aim  at  "good  citizenship  '*  in 
a  vague  general  way.  As  well  aim  at  "medicine "  in  a  large 
vague  way  in  the  training  of  a  physician. 

The  citizen  has  functions  to  perform.  We  are  to  develop 
ability  to  perform  those  functions.'  But  first  we  must  know 
with  particularity  what  they  are.  He  must  have  certain 
social  attitudes,  valuations,  criteria  of  judgment.  We  can- 
not effectively  train  for  these,  except  as  we  have  rather 
accurately  defined  them.  He  must  have  knowledge;  but 
we  must  know  how  and  where  he  is  to  use  it  before  we  can 
know  what  to  give;  or  how  much;  or  how  to  focus  it. 

The  need  of  definite  objectives  is  obvious.  It  will  l>e  a 
long  time,  however,  before  our  profession  can  have  any 
reasonably  complete  list  upon  which  to  base  a  system  of 
training.  And  the  reason  is,  citizens  are  not  suflSciently 
agreed  among  themselves  as  to  the  characteristics  of  the 
good  citizen,  or  his  modes  of  thought  and  action.  They 
agree  so  long  as  they  talk  mere  vagueness;  they  disagree 
the  moment  they  begin  to  particularize.  And  education 
must  be  built  upon  the  particulars. 

The  'primitive  good  citizen 

We  can  best  indicate  the  essential  nature  of  the  good  citi- 
zen by  first  noting  the  situation  in  the  small  primitive  tribes 
of  our  ancestors  before  the  growth  of  complex  institutions 


118  THE  CURRICULUM 

obscured  the  relationships.  In  those  early  times,  the  human 
race  was  broken  up  into  innumerable  small  tribes.  Each 
had  little  or  no  connection  with  its  neighbors.  Owing  to  the 
severe  limitations  upon  the  food-supply  and  other  necessi- 
ties, and  to  the  tendency  within  tribes  to  expand,  each  tribe 
was  usually  hostile  to  neighboring  tribes.  There  was  always 
a  state  of  active  or  slumbering  war. 

Continuing  existence  of  the  tribe  demanded  considerable 
social  solidarity.  In  the  common  struggles  with  the  enemy 
and  with  the  hostile  forces  of  Nature,  each  member  of  the 
tribe  was  expected  to  cooperate  fully  with  the  other  members. 
He  must  deal  fairiy  and  honestly  with  his  own  people.  He 
must  lend  assistance  to  those  in  need  of  it.  He  must  be 
loyal  to  the  group,  and  obedient  to  constituted  authority. 
He  must  restrain  his  anti-social  passions,  and  adjust  his 
efforts  to  promote  the  tribal  welfare.  Without  this  solidar- 
ity, the  group  disintegrated  and  was  destroyed  by  better- 
organized  neighbors.  So  indispensable  was  group-cohesion 
and  social  virtues  that  man  was  endowed  with  powerful 
social  instincts.  Nature  made  sure  of  this  type  of  social 
service. 

On  the  other  hand,  for  the  tribe  to  survive  under  those 
hard  conditions  of  primitive  struggle,  each  individual  had 
to  be  prepared  to  fight  alien  tribes.  The  rightful  attitude  of 
an  individual  toward  members  of  alien  groups  was  therefore 
anti-social,  hostile,  destructive.  Toward  the  alien  he  was 
expected  to  exercise  deceit,  stratagem,  treachery,  and  vio- 
lence. He  must  despoil  them  of  their  property,  enslave 
them,  or  destroy  them.  This  exercise  of  anti-social  attitudes 
toward  the  alien  was  as  necessary  and  as  virtuous  as  the 
exercise  of  the  social  attitudes  toward  the  members  of  his 
own  group.  The  tribe  that  would  not  fight  was  destroyed, 
root  and  branch.  This  resistance  to  the  enemy  was  so  im- 
portant that  Nature  gave  to  man  a  fuU  array  of  fighting 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN  119 

instincts.  In  this  manner,  she  set  her  seal  of  approval  upon 
anti-social  attitudes  and  action.  She  made  sure  also  of  this 
second  type  of  social  service  to  one's  own  group. 

In  his  relations  to  other  individuals,  conditions  forced 
upon  primitive  man  two  standards  of  conduct,  two  sets  of 
attitudes,  two  sets  of  virtues.  (The  good  citizen  of  the  tribe 
was  the  one  who  most  vigorously  exercised  the  social  virtues 
toward  the  members  of  his  tribe,  and  who  most  vahantly 
exercised  the  anti-social  virtues  toward  members  of  the 
alien  tribes.  The  bad  citizen  was  the  one  who  exercised  the 
hostile  virtues  toward  his  fellow-tribesmen  and  the  friendly 
virtues  toward  the  aliens. 

Intra-gronp  virtues  Extra-group  virtues 

Mutual  aid;  social  service  Injury;  destruction 

Fair-dealing  Double-dealing;  treachery 

Truthfulness;  honesty  Deceit;  stratagem 

Loyalty;  obedience  Hostility;  opposition 

Modesty;  humility  Arrogance 

Submission  to  group  opinion  Defiance;  antagonism 

Courtesy  Incivility 

Self-restraint  Unbridled  freedom 

Gentleness;  mercy  Ruthlessness 

In  the  table  the  two  opposite  sets  of  virtues  are  placed 
over  against  each  other.  The  good  citizen  of  the  primitive 
tribe  had  to  be  active  in  the  exercise  of  both.  But  he  must 
exercise  each  toward  its  rightful  object  of  reference.  He 
must  not  reverse  them.  In  so  doing,  he  became  guilty  of 
the  two  sets  of  crimes.  To  exercise  anti-social  attitudes 
toward  the  members  of  his  own  group  was  to  select  the 
wrong  objects  for  their  reference  and  therefore  to  commit 
crime.  On  the  other  hand,  to  exercise  the  social  virtues 
toward  members  of  alien  groups  was  to  be  guilty  of  render- 
ing aid  to  one's  enemies,  the  capital  crime  of  treason. 
Whether  an  act  toward  another  human  being  or  group  of 


120  THE  CURRICULUM 

human  beings  was  virtuous  or  vicious  depended  not  upon 
the  nature  of  the  act  itself,  but  upon  the  object  of  reference. 
To  kill  women  and  children,  for  example,  in  that  day  was 
virtuous  conduct,  if  they  belonged  to  alien  tribes;  it  was 
criminal  conduct,  if  they  were  of  one's  own  tribe.  Any  kind 
of  human  conduct  toward  another  was  good,  or  any  kind 
was  bad;  it  all  depended  upon  the  person  toward  whom  it 
was  exercised.  Virtue  or  vice  lay  not  in  the  act  itself;  but 
in  the  right  social  placing  of  the  act^  Virtues  and  vices  were 
relative  things,  not  absolutes. 

The  modern  situation ' 

As  a  result  of  the  long-continued  group-struggle  of  primi- 
tive days,  the  weaker  tribes  disappeared  and  the  stronger 
tribes  grew  fewer  in  number  and  larger  in  population  and 
territorial  area.  This  absorption  or  destruction  of  the  weak 
by  the  strong  has  continued  down  to  the  present  day  until 
there  now  exists  over  the  habitable  globe  only  some  forty 
or  fifty  independent  national  groups.  The  situation  with 
respect  to  the  two  sets  of  social  attitudes,  however,  does  not 
change  with  the  size  of  the  group.  It  cannot  change  so  long 
as  wholly  independent  competing  nations  exist.  Within 
the  large  nation,  no  less  than  in  primitive  days,  there  still 
remains  the  need  of  inner  sohdarity  and  the  exercise  of  the 
social  virtues.  Toward  the  alien  nations,  however,  in  the 
degree  that  they  are  felt  to  be  alien,  one  is  still  expected 
to  employ  the  anti-social  attitudes.  Between  these  larger 
nations  there  is,  as  of  old,  a  constant  hostility.  This  is  not 
always  on  the  surface.  With  war  so  expensive  and  destruc- 
tive now,  nations  live  mostly  in  a  state  of  truce,  —  simply 
because  anything  else  is  suicidal  in  the  end,  and  not  because 
the  world  has  developed  the  fundamental  basis  of  peace. 

The  slumbering  presence  of  extra-group  hostility  is  re- 
vealed by  the  ease  with  which  it  flares  forth  at  the  slightest 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN         121 

provocation,  and  the  ease  with  which  it  bursts  into  the 
flames  of  war  even  in  the  case  of  nations  that  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  call  civilized.  The  independent  national 
groups  still  cling  to  the  two  standards  of  conduct  and  regard 
both  as  wholly  justifiable,  legitimate,  and  virtuous,  if  only 
exercised  toward  the  right  objects  of  reference.  In  times  of 
international  stress,  when  both  intra-group  and  extra-group 
standards  of  conduct  are  fully  aroused,  and  when  the  grow- 
ing but  yet  feeble  sentiment  of  membership  in  a  world 
group  is  stilled  in  the  strife,  then  the  anti-social  dictates 
become  clear  and  unconfused.  To  kill  the  man  who  is  not 
a  member  of  one's  own  nation  becomes  a  matter  of  entire 
virtue.  It  is  not  a  crime.  It  is  not  a  matter  for  reproach.  It 
calls  for  decorations  of  honor.  At  the  present  moment  it  is 
the  largest,  the  most  expensively  equipped  and  the  most 
completely  organized  business  in  the  world. 

The  nations  have  institutionalized  their  anti-social  tend- 
encies. They  have  developed  laws,  traditions,  public  opin- 
ion, military  technique,  organization,  training,  weapons, 
and  other  appliances  for  destroying  aliens.  And  through 
newspapers,  schools,  churches,  and  public  proclamations, 
they  have  arranged  to  make  and  to  keep  all  people  fully 
conscious  of  their  anti-social  duties,  powers,  and  possibilities. 
/in  relation  to  the  wholly  alien  nation,  then,  who  is  the 
/good  citizen?  It  is  the  one  who  is  ready  and  eager  to  fight 
^the  alien  the  instant  called  upon;  who  is  ready  to  shed  his 
blood  to  the  last  drop  in  service  to  his  countrymen.  It  is 
ithe  one  whose  thought  and  feeling  and  action  are  most 
completely  anti-social  —  with  these  turned  squarely  against 
tne  hostile  alien. 

We  may  deprecate  a  world-situation  which  makes  murder 
and  destruction  an  inescapable  part  of  social  service;  and 
therefore  a  necessary  function  of  the  good  citizen.  The  situ- 
ation is  what  it  is,  however;  and  not  what  we  may  wish  it 


122  THE  CURRICULUM 

to  be.  The  world  is  still  young  and  in  the  green;  and  yet  far 
from  organized  and  civilized.  An  undesirable  form  of  social 
service  is  not  to  be  escaped  by  blinking  it;  but  by  so  chang- 
ing the  world-situation  that  the  noxious  type  of  service  is 
no  longer  necessary  to  continuing  national  existence  and 
welfare. 

Patriotism  we  say  is  a  characteristic  of  the  good  citizen. 
But  in  our  present  state  of  world-division,  there  are  two 
types  of  patriotism,  wholly  different,  and  both  indispen- 
sable for  national  welfare.  We  are  here  referring  to  one 
of  the  types,  the  one  that  is  built  upon  the  anti-alien  rela- 
tions. It  is  the  desire  to  serve  one's  own  national  group  by 
restraining  or  injuring,  or  even  if  necessary  destroying, 
alien  groups.  It  is  the  aroused  anti-social  spirit.  It  is  a  state 
of  mind  that  in  the  nature  of  things  must  persist  so  long  as 
this  whirling  planet  holds  mankind-in-division. 

But  let  us  turn  to  the  other  and  more  agreeable  side  of 
the  picture.  The  national  groups  not  only  institutionalize 
the  spirit  of  world-division  for  their  outside  relations;  but 
also  build  ponderous  and  stable  national  institutions  upon 
the  intra-social  impulses  of  mankind-in-cooperation.  For 
promoting  the  welfare  of  the  group  within,  the  more  ad- 
vanced nations  —  even  though  their  hands  now  are  reeking 
with  the  blood  of  alien  human-kind  —  have  been  providing 
and  developing  the  humanitarian  institutions  necessary  to  a 
superb  state  of  civilization.  They  have  been  building  schools 
and  churches;  and  fostering  within  their  boundaries  the 
reign  of  intelligence  and  good-will.  They  have  been  pro- 
viding hospitals  for  the  sick,  systematic  state  care  for  the 
weak,  pensions  for  the  aged  and  the  incapacitated,  work- 
men's compensation  for  the  injured  in  industry,  protection 
of  women  and  children  from  industrial  exploitation,  eight- 
hour  laws  for  workmen,  the  enforcement  of  sanitary  living 
and  work  conditions;  and  a  host  of  other  human- welfare 


THE  NATUKE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN         123 

measures.  And  they  have  zealously  promoted  in  a  thousand 
ways  those  social  institutions  which  perform  for  a  people 
the  basic  intra-group  services:  industry,  commerce,  trans- 
portation, mining,  agriculture,  professional  service,  etc. 
Thus  institutions  growing  out  of  the  social  virtues  flourish 
profusely  in  nations  that  show  no  abhorrence  to  the  most 
inhuman  brutalities  when  exercised  toward  alien  peoples. 
And  press  and  schools  and  churches  diligently  foster  this 
internal  socialization;  and  the  awakening  of  a  sensitive 
social  conscience  that  is  keenly  cognizant  of  intra-group 
obHgation. 

This  brings  us  to  the  other  type  of  patriotism — the  aroused 
spirit  of  intra-group  service.  It  is  the  desire  to  serve  one's 
national  group  by  promoting  in  every  possible  way  those  in- 
ternal social  adjustments  and  actions  that  make  in  maxi- 
mum degree  for  the  general  national  welfare.  Instead  of  its 
being  hatred  of  the  enemy  as  in  the  other  type,  it  is  love  of 
one's  people,  and  of  all  of  one's  people;  and  positive.  This 
type  of  patriotism  is  in  need  of  greater  emphasis  since  it  is  not 
so  clearly  conceived.  It  is  coordinate  with  the  other.  But 
to  most  men  the  term  refers  only  to  the  anti-social  type. 
Men  take  great  pride  in  self-sacrifice,  and  are  willing  to  lay 
down  even  life  itself,  to  promote  the  welfare  of  their  people, 
so  long  as  it  is  the  anti-alien  type  of  social  service.  Why 
should  there  not  be  equal  willingness  for  self-sacrifice  in  the 
service  of  those  same  people  when  the  service  is  social? 
And  why  should  not  the  intra-group  service  be  equally  hon- 
ored? Civic  training  should  complete  our  ideas  of  patriot- 
ism; and  develop  attitudes  of  both  types  —  so  long  as  both 
are  needed. 

Functional  differentiation 

As  social  groups  grow  large  territorially,  they  break  up 
along  functional  lines  into  small  groups  again:  commercial. 


124  THE  CURRICULUM 

manufacturing,  agricultural,  religious,  political,  professional, 
and  others.  The  lower  limit  in  size  is  the  specialized  individ- 
ual standing  alone. 

With  the  appearance  of  the  functional  small  groups,  there 
arise  naturally  and  inevitably  the  two  standards  of  social 
conduct.  Human  nature  is  so  made  that  without  thought 
we  adopt  the  social  attitudes  toward  members  of  our  own 
social  group :  our  own  political  party,  our  own  church,  com- 
mercial organization,  political  ring,  fraternity,  club,  trade- 
union,  employers'  union,  school,  college,  or  other  organi- 
zation to  which  we  may  belong.  In  the  same  natural  way, 
without  taking  thought,  we  adopt  the  extra-group  attitudes 
toward  those  who  belong  to  outside  or  competing  groups: 
the  opposite  political  party,  other  financial,  commercial,  or 
manufacturing  organizations,  the  churches  of  the  other 
groups,  the  rival  college,  the  close-fisted  employers'  associ- 
ation, or  the  striking  labor-union. 

One  belongs  to  many  overlapping  groups  and  over  all  he 
belongs  to  the  city,  state,  and  national  groups  which  include 
all  of  these.  He  has  a  conception  of  his  membership  in  each 
of  them.  This  complicated  consciousness  tends  to  soften  and 
partially  inhibit  the  workings  of  the  anti-social  attitudes 
in  connection  with  one's  small-group  activities.  Leaving 
aside  this  qualification,  we  must  notice  that  as  one's  con- 
sciousness of  membership  within  the  small  group  becomes 
intense,  he  adopts  the  two  standards  of  conduct  and  looks 
upon  both  as  equally  ^^rtuous.  They  have  been  so  re- 
garded by  mankind  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  Both 
are  powerfully  supported  by  instincts;  back  of  each  are 
powerful  traditions.  As  a  result  both  are  considered  equally 
right  and  necessary  if  only  the  one  is  exercised  toward 
one's  friends  and  the  other  toward  outsiders. 

A  labor-union  offers  a  good  example.  The  members  of  the 
union  extend  mutual  aid  to  all  within  the  group.   They  aid 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN  125 

in  securing  employment;  in  holding  their  positions;  in  the 
regulation  of  hours,  wages,  factory  protection,  sanitary 
conditions,  etc.  In  times  of  sickness  or  loss  of  place,  the 
necessary  material  assistance  is  extended.  Toward  each 
other  within  the  union,  after  excepting  the  occasional  wolf 
in  sheep's  clothing  that  preys  upon  ignorance,  there  is,  on 
the  whole,  fair-dealing,  honesty,  truthfulness,  loyalty,  obe- 
dience, and  submission  to  whatever  regulations  are  neces- 
sary for  the  welfare  of  the  union.  However  rough  and  igno- 
rant the  men  may  be,  these  social  virtues  grow  up  within 
the  group  in  their  relations  toward  each  other  about  as  luxu- 
riantly as  among  the  individuals  of  any  social  class.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  union  holds  just  as  strictly  to  the  extra- 
group,  anti-social  standard  of  conduct  in  their  relations  to 
the  opposing  employers'  groups.  Industry  exists  in  division. 
Hence  there  is  constant  hostility.  While  active  warfare 
flames  forth  only  occasionally,  the  usual  situation  is  one  of 
truce,  not  of  peace.  The  union  stands  ready  to  over-reach 
employers  when  opportunity  offers.  They  combine  to  limit 
the  output  of  each  man.  They  tend  to  "soldier,"  to  mis- 
manage, to  delay  progress  so  as  to  extend  the  work.  It  is  in 
times  of  acute  trouble,  however,  that  the  extra-group  at- 
titudes reveal  themselves  most  clearly.  The  union  often 
strives  to  wreck  or  destroy  the  machinery  and  the  mate- 
rials belonging  to  the  hostile  employers.  The  labor  strike  is 
often  a  state  of  actual  armed  warfare.  They  will  not  work 
until  their  demands  are  granted,  and  others  shall  not  work. 
Where  persuasion  will  not  serve,  force  must  be  employed. 
The  unions  justify  the  use  of  force  by  saying  that  it  is  class 
war.  They  use  the  term  in  its  literal  sense,  not  in  a  figura- 
tive one.  It  is  a  struggle  for  the  group  that  grows  out  of  ad- 
herence to  the  world-old  extra-group  standard  of  conduct. 
It  has  exactly  the  same  kind  of  justification  as  any  other 
kind  of  war.   We  shall  not  make  headway  in  understand- 


126  ,  THE  CURRICULUM 

ing  the  civic  factors  that  enter  into  the  situation  unless  we 
grant  the  warring  union  entire  sincerity  of  conviction  as  to 
the  rightfulness  of  adhering  to  both  standards  of  conduct. 
They  are  acting  as  the  race  has  always  acted  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  when  divided  into  opposing  and  hostile 
small  groups.  To  dispense  with  either  of  the  standards  so 
long  as  industry  exists  in  division  can  result  in  but  injury 
or  destruction  for  their  group.  Even  though  they  may  wish 
to  dispense  with  the  extra-group  attitudes,  the  condition  of 
social  division  will  not  permit. 

It  is  not  that  the  men  are  vicious.  It  is  the  state  of  indus- 
try-in-division  that  is  vicious.  To  say  that  the  men  are  in- 
herently ill-disposed  and  that  they  destroy  simply  for  the 
love  of  destruction  is  to  miss  the  whole  secret  of  the  matter. 
.They  are  usually  more  rough  and  ignorant  than  their  ac- 
cusers, because  they  have  had  fewer  educational  oppor- 
tunities; but  they  are  not  less  honest  nor  less  sincere;  nor 
less  virtuous  when  measured  by  the  dual  standard  of  virtue 
forced  upon  them  by  the  presence  of  social  division.  They 
are  using  the  same  standards  of  conduct  as  their  opponents. 
For  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  there  are  always  at  least 
two  parties  to  a  fight;  and  that  when  the  fighting  is  fierce 
upon  the  one  side  it  is  no  less  fierce  upon  the  other.  The  visi- 
ble struggle  of  the  labor-unions  is  proof  of  an  equally  stren- 
uous opposition  upon  the  part  of  the  employing  groups. 

Let  us  reverse  the  illustration.  The  employers'  groups  have 
their  same  two  standards  of  social  ethics;  and  they  live  up 
to  the  standards  forced  upon  them  by  conditions  in  the  same 
vigorous  and  manly  way.  In  their  conduct  toward  each 
other,  one  sees  revealed  all  of  the  social  virtues  at  their 
best.  They  stand  together  and  support  each  other  in  the  pro- 
motion of  measures  designed  to  further  the  welfare  of  their 
groups,  and  in  resisting  injurious  measures.  They  keep  each 
other's  counsels.    They  place  opportunities  in  each  other's 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN  127 

way.  They  pass  on  information  which  can  be  used.  They 
extend  credit  to  each  other  on  a  more  generous  basis  than 
that  granted  to  outsiders.  They  fix  prices,  ehminate  com- 
petition, make  "gentlemen's"  trade  agreements,  —  and  to 
each  other  their  word  is  their  bond.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
in  the  business  world  where  one  will  find  the  highest  ex- 
amples of  consistent  and  tenacious  adherence  to  the  social 
standards  of  group  ethics.  When  one  seeks  an  example  of 
honesty  that  is  unshakable,  of  fidelity  to  trust  that  is  free 
from  the  breath  of  every  suspicion,  one  will  find  it  most 
frequently  among  the  responsible  leaders  in  the  business 
world.  This  is,  however,  to  refer  to  but  one  side  of  their  dual 
ethical  system.  Opposed  to  them  is  the  labor  group  and  the 
great  body  of  consumers.  These  are  alien  groups;  and  in 
proportion  as  they  are  conceived  to  be  alien,  the  anti-social 
predatory  standard  rises  strong  and  becomes  the  rule  of 
action.  Until  recently  they  have  had  little  care  as  to  how 
much  they  injure  or  destroy  the  laborer.  They  have  refused 
to  install  protective  devices  or  to  make  factories  sanitary 
until  they  are  compelled  to  do  so.  They  have  refused  to  cut 
down  hours  and  have  been  willing  to  work  men  in  twelve- 
or  even  sixteen-hour  shifts  without  care  as  to  the  effects  upon 
them.  They  have  given  out  false  statements  as  to  capitali- 
zation, costs,  expenses  of  production,  profits,  and  in  other 
ways  have  sought  to  prevent  the  opposing  labor  organi- 
zations from  obtaining  their  rights.  They  have  circulated 
blacklists  to  keep  out  of  their  shops  those  who  are  especially 
strenuous  in  fighting  the  battles  of  labor.  They  have  placed 
'provocateurs  in  the  labor  camps  to  discredit  labor  in  the 
eyes  of  the  public.  But  in  thus  holding  to  one  social  standard 
in  their  conduct  toward  each  other,  and  to  a  wholly  differ- 
ent standard  toward  the  laboring  men,  the  employing  class 
is  doing  what  is  in  the  nature  of  the  situation  forced  upon 
them.   Where  such  group  oppositions  exist,  the  rise  of  the 


128  THE  CURRICULUM 

two  standards  is  inevitable.  We  must  see  the  anti-social 
opposition  to  labor's  welfare  as  a  sincere  and  honest  adher- 
ence to  a  dual  ethical  standard  that  the  world  has  always 
accepted;  and  which  it  yet  accepts.  It  is  human  nature  in 
the  face  of  social  division. 

Let  the  managerial  groups  lay  down  their  oppositions  un- 
der present  social  conditions,  and  grant  all  that  opposing  la- 
bor and  consumer  groups  may  demand,  —  and  they  but  com- 
mit economic  suicide.  "Big  business,"  no  more  than  labor, 
is  vicious  or  criminal.  Our  social  problem  is  not  a  matter  of 
dealing  with  "malefactors  of  great  wealth,"  but  rather  with 
the  maleficent  results  of  society-in-division.  The  dwided- 
ness  is  the  malefactor. 

Illustrations  are  as  numerous  as  small  groups.  Take  the 
case  of  the  corrupt  political  ring.  Within  such  a  group  of 
gray  wolves  there  is  a  tremendous  social  solidarity.  One 
finds  the  social  virtues  blossoming  as  luxuriantly  as  they 
can  be  found  anywhere.  There  is  loyalty  and  obedience  to 
the  chief.  Group  secrets  are  kept  inviolate.  There  is  mu- 
tual service  within  the  group  in  the  getting  of  offices,  polit- 
ical jobs,  political  contracts,  access  to  the  public  crib,  etc. 
One  hears  endless  praises  of  the  leaders  because  of  their  help)- 
fulness  and  never-ending  kindness  toward  the  individuals 
of  their  class.  In  carrying  forward  these  activities  it  matters 
not  to  them  how  much  they  injure  the  welfare  of  the  other 
social  groups.  These  are  alien;  and  therefore  legitimate  prey. 

In  proportion  as  one's  social  vision  and  social  conscious- 
ness are  limited  to  one's  membership  in  the  small  group, 
with  ignorance  of  large-group  existences  and  relationships, 
one  will  hold  to  the  primitive  dual  standard  of  conduct. 
Though  good  to  his  friends,  he  is  the  undesirable  citizen. 

In  proportion  as  one's  social  vision  and  social  conscious- 
ness are  widened  so  that  one  comes  to  have  a  vivid  con- 
ception of  one's  membership  in  the  large  group,  then  the 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  GOOD  CITIZEN  129 

anti-social  attitudes  and  standards  tend  to  fade  and  dis- 
appear and  to  leave  as  the  rule  of  conduct  only  the  social 
ethics  of  civilized  humanity.  Of  this  type  is  the  good  citizen 
in  a  state  of  civilization. 

Let  one  continue  this  line  of  thought  and  note  the  special 
attitudes  and  antagonisms  among  business  groups,  political 
parties,  ecclesiastical  organizations,  medical  and  healing 
groups,  etc.,  each  with  its  own  special  dual  system  of  ethics, 
and  one  can  realize  that  in  educating  for  citizenship  we  are 
to  prepare  to  deal  with  some  very  obdurate  aspects  of  hu- 
man nature;  and  with  intractable  institutionalized  small- 
group  attitudes  and  traditions.  If  the  training  is  to  be  vital, 
not  merely  some  remote  hearsay  affair,  students  need  to  be 
brought  into  experiential  contact  with  the  realities  them- 
selves. That  the  training  problems  bristle  with  difficulties 
is  easily  evident.  Every  one  of  these  small  groups  stands 
over  against  other  small  groups  and  equally  against  the 
large  group.  Its  ethics  not  only  demands  that  it  fight  com- 
petitor small  groups,  but  that  it  also  fight  the  large  group 
when  the  latter  refuses  to  let  it  pursue  its  group-ends  with- 
out molestation.  It  therefore  follows  the  dictates  of  virtue 
when  it  fights  education  for  large-group  valuations.  And 
its  blows  have  the  vigor  and  persistence  of  sincerity;  and 
equally  the  underhandedness  that  is  fully  sanctioned  as  a 
major  virtue  of  the  extra-group  type. 

Interdependence  of  specialized  groups 

We  now  come  to  the  fourth  level  of  our  genetic  story. 
The  differentiation  of  the  national  group  into  small  func- 
tional groups  has  as  its  obverse  side  the  interdependence  of 
the  small  groups.  This  again  welds  the  small  groups  into 
a  new  and  higher  form  of  large-group  solidarity.  Each  be- 
comes dependent  upon  all  the  others;  and  the  others  depend- 
ent upon  it.  The  oneness  of  the  specialized  groups  becomes 


130  THE  CURRICULUM 

as  clear  as  the  oneness  of  the  bodily  organism  with  its  special- 
ized members.  As  this  recognition  rises  clear,  consciousness 
of  membership  within  the  large  group  becomes  dominant 
in  the  members  of  all  of  the  specialized  groups  and  the 
extra-group  attitudes  of  antagonism  between  constituent 
classes  disappear.  All  come  to  accept  the  intra-group  stand- 
ards as  the  rules  of  civic  conduct;  the  extra-group  standards 
disappear;  and  good  citizenship  on  the  part  of  all  is  achieved. 
This  level  of  social  evolution,  this  subjective  good  citizen- 
ship which  alone  can  bring  the  actual,  has  been  but  partially 
reached.  The  climb  is  yet  a  toilsome  one.  But  the  speed  that 
we  have  recently  been  making,  and  the  ease  with  which  we 
have  been  responding  to  newly  recognized  social  obligation 
promise  great  civic  achievement  in  the  years  just  ahead  of 
us.  And  since  the  problem  at  bottom  is  one  of  creating  sub- 
jective attitudes  and  valuations,  it  is  mainly  a  problem  for 
the  educational  profession.  And  the  first  problem  —  a 
most  baffling  one  —  is  to  draw  up  a  curriculum  that  will 
with  certainty  forge  an  enduring  and  vitalized  large-group 
consciousness.  -• 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  ENLIGHTENED  LARGE-GROUP 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

JThe  problem  of  civic  training  is  par  excellence  the  develop)- A 
^ent  of  large-group  consciousness.  If  men  understand  the 
large-group  social  relations,  and  have  right  attitudes  toward 
each  other  and  toward  the  social  whole,  these  automatically 
impel  toward  right  action.  Educatjojucdll  develop  the  emo- 
tional aspects  of  large-group  consciousness  for  the  sake  of 
propelling  power;  and  the  intellectual  aspects  for  the  sake 
of  guidance. 

Let  us  first  ask,  How  does  one  develop  a  genmne  feeling  of 
membership  in  a  social  group,  whether  large  or  small  .f^  There 
seems  to  be  but  one  method  and  that  is,  To  think  and  feel  and 
ACT  with  the  group  as  a  yart  of  it  as  it  performs  its  activities 
and  strives  to  attain  its  ends.  Individuals  are  fused  into 
coherent  small  groups,  discordant  small  groups  are  fused 
into  the  large  internally-coop>erating  group,  when  they  act 
together  for  common  ends,  with  common  vision,  and  with 
united  judgment. 

Let  us  take  for  illustration  that  group-consciousness 
called  "college  spirit."  The  high-school  youth  who  has  not 
yet  chosen  his  college  is  likely  to  have  little  or  no  interest 
in  the  success  or  failure  of  any  particular  college  athletic 
team  to  which  he  sees  reference  in  the  daily  press.  But  after 
he  has  entered  a  particular  college,  and  has  come  to  partici- 
pate in  its  affairs,  then  the  situation  is  altogether  changed. 
His  sympathies  are  with  one  group  and  with  its  team;  and 
the  more  strenuously  he  exerts  himself  in  promoting  its 
welfare,  the  more  keenly  does  he  realize  his  common  mem- 
bership in  the  group,  and  the  more  willing  does  he  become 


132  THE  CURRICULUM 

to  sink  personar  self-interest  for  the  welfare  of  his  college 
group.  "College  spirit'*  is  the  flower  and  fruit  of  action. 
This  action  may  be  of  other  types  than  athletic;  but  action 
for  common  ends  there  must  be  or  there  is  no  healthy  growth 
of  the  sentiment  of  solidarity. 

Merely  to  find  one's  self  a  passive  member  of  a  group  is 
not  enough.  The  member  of  the  college  who  does  not 
participate  actively  in  its  affairs  remains  cold,  aloof,  un- 
sympathetic. He  does  not  fuse  with  the  group.  College 
spirit  does  not  and  cannot  grow  in  such  soil.  And  the  prin- 
ciple is  of  universal  application.  The  man  who  is  passively 
made  a  member  of  a  church  or  political  organization,  but 
who  never  does  anything  by  way  of  promoting  the  common 
purposes  of  the  group,  will  never  attain  any  vital  conscious- 
ness of  membership  in  the  organization.  Like  a  piece  of 
cold  iron  that  cannot  be  welded,  he  remains  detached,  sepa- 
rate, apart.  Man  finds  his  normal  social  life  only  in  action; 
and  he  attains  a  realization  of  his  normal  relationships  only 
through,  action. 

One  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  nayonal  wars  is  that 
more  than  anything  else  they  cement  national  solidarity. 
This  is  because  they  represent  group-action  of  the  most 
strenuous  and  the  most  fully  emotionalized  type:  actions 
and  emotions  that  lie  close  to  elemental  instincts.  The  sub- 
stitute for  war  that  civilization  is  to  find  must  have  as  its 
major  ingredient  group-action  that  is  strenuous  and  emo- 
tionalized. Wanting  this,  there  can  be  no  effective  and 
abiding  national  solidarity.  The  substitute  need  not  equal 
war  in  its  momentary  power;  for  what  it  lacks  in  power  may 
be  made  up  in  continuity  of  action. 

Reconstruction  of  experience  through  language 

The  political  groups  of  which  one  is  a  member  are  State- 
wide, Nation-wide.  One's  occupational  or  rehgious  group  is 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  133 

no  less  widely  distributed.  Clearly  one  can  never  observe 
his  whole  group  directly;  nor  in  his  participation  come  into 
contact  with  more  than  a  tiny  fragment  of  the  total-group 
labors.  For  width  of  vision  and  of  contacts,  therefore,  one 
needs  methods  that  are  not  so  much  limited  by  space  and 
time  relations.  Hence,  we  must  note  the  place  of  indirect 
or  vicarious  observation  and  participation  through  reading. 

To  resume  our  example,  a  college  student  may  develop 
a  large  degree  of  college  spirit  and  yet  actually  see  and  in 
the  flesh  perform  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the  common 
action.  Kept  away  from  it  by  other  duties  or  by  enforced 
absence,  he  may  enter  into  it  all  through  participative  imag- 
ination as  he  reads  the  current  happenings  in  the  college 
paper.  During  such  reading,  he  is  lost  to  actual  time  and 
place,  and  for  the  moment  dwells  in  the  midst  of  the  group- 
action.  As  a  shadow-member  of  the  group,  he  participates 
in  all  that  is  going  on.  He  wishes  and  wills  and  hopes  and 
feels  and  becomes  emotionally  heated  like  those  actually  in 
the  fray  —  especially  if  he  can  also  talk  to  somebody  about 
it,  and  thus  actively  and  socially  stir  the  inner  fires.  By 
such  means,  his  spirit  is  warmed  and  shaped,  —  his  group)- 
attitudes,  valuations,  and  sense  of  soHdarity. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  a  large  institution  most  col- 
lege students  do  not  actually  see  or  enter  into  much  of  the 
activity.  They  only  hear  about  it  through  conversation  and 
reading.  In  the  case  of  one's  national  political  party,  or  of 
the  rehgious  denomination  to  which  one  belongs,  this  re- 
moteness of  the  individual  and  his  dependence  upon  report 
is  much  more  pronounced.  And  still  more  so  is  it  in  the  case 
of  the  all-embracing  national  group.  The  normal  mode  of 
participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  very  large  group  involves 
the  doing  of  but  a  tiny  fragment  of  the  labors  of  the  whole, 
and  of  seeing  but  little  more  with  the  eyes  of  sense.  But 
as  one  sees  and  does  the  little,  with  his  inner  vision  he  sees 


134  THE  CURRICULUM 

the  whole  as  he  reads,  and  feels  himself  a  member  of  the  total 
group  and  performing  a  part  of  its  action. 

We  must  carry  this  thought  one  step  farther.  One*s 
participation  in  the  group-activity  instead  of  being  one  per 
cent  objective  and  ninety-nine  per  cent  subjective,  may, 
without  noticeable  change  of  character,  be  one  hundred 
per  cent  subjective.  Let  one  take,  for  example,  a  good  nar- 
rative account  of  the  Persian  wars  of  the  Greeks.  This 
reconstructs  subjectively  the  experience  of  the  armies  of 
Miltiades  and  Leonidas  just  as  clearly  as  our  current  press 
reconstructs  for  our  subjective  participation  the  action  of 
yesterday  of  our  political  party,  our  church,  or  our  own 
national  group.  We  can  enter  into  the  action  with  the  same 
completeness  and  abandon.  Language  reconstructs  the  dis- 
tant past  with  the  same  ease  and  clearness  as  the  past  of 
but  an  hour  ago;  action  on  the  other  side  of  the  earth,  as 
easily  as  that  on  the  next  street. 

Language  is  preeminently  the  organ  of  social  vision.  With 
the  eyes  of  sense  one  sees  but  a  little  way,  and  sees  but  frag- 
ments of  group-action;  even  within  one's  own  town.  But 
language  lifts  the  curtain  upon  all  the  earth.  It  enables 
one  to  see  and  know  and  relive  all  typ)es  of  human  experience. 
If  the  record  is  everywhere  equally  complete,  the  things  are 
seen  without  the  distortion  of  visual  perspective  which 
makes  near  things  large  and  far  things  small.  Civic  educa- 
tion must,  therefore,  make  large  use  of  reading  that  is  con- 
crete enough  to  permit  vicaiioiiS42artiei2ative'  experience. 

The  creation  of  a  large-group  consciousness 

Now,  how  do  citizens  act  together  in  large-group  ways? 
And  how  can  children  and  youth  participate  in  such  action, 
so  as  to  become  fused  in  consciousness  with  the  large  group  .'^ 

Let  us  begin  with  the  national  group,  since  the  problems 
are  in  many  respects  simpler  than  in  the  case  of  the  munici- 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  135 

pal  or  other  local  group.  Our  national  group  for  some  gen- 
erations has  had  its  separate  identity  in  the  always  quarrel- 
some family  of  nations.  For  the  maintenance  of  its  political 
existence  it  has  had  to  hold  itself  at  least  reasonably  united 
against  foreign  aggression.  Occasionally  it  has  had  to  act. 
At  the  present  moment  the  Nation  is  engaged  in  such  a  life- 
and-death  struggle.  For  the  promotion  of  its  material  wel- 
fare, it  has  had  as  a  national  group  to  compete  with  other 
aggressive  commercial  nations  in  the  markets  of  the  earth. 
For  preventing  schism  and  internal  disintegration  it  has 
often  had  to  array  itself  actively  against  States  and  special- 
ized groups  and  to  force  them  to  subordinate  their  special 
interests  to  the  greater  good  of  the  whole.  It  has  had  cease- 
lessly to  keep  a  strong  hand  up>on  the  activities  of  powerful 
special  groups,  always  actively  or  potentially  predatory; 
and  in  the  nature  of  the  case  this  must  always  continue.  It 
has  long  fought,  and  is  always  fighting,  at  the  gateways  of 
our  land,  with  the  things  that  cause  disease  in  man  and 
beast  and  plant;  and  this  warfare  grows  in  intensity,  and 
can  never  cease.  In  regions  of  flood,  aridity,  and  obstructed 
navigation,  upon  dangerous  reefs  and  shores,  in  the  national 
forests,  and  otherwhere  and  in  many  ways,  we  are  as  a 
national  group  making  war  against  the  adverse  forces  of 
Nature.  Within  recent  years  our  national  group  is  seen  to 
be  girding  itself  for  war  upon  national  ignorance,  national 
weakness,  national  inefficiency  of  many  kinds. 

When  teachers  are  asked  how  to  improve  the  teaching 
of  our  national  history  they  frequently  say,  "  Omit  or  abbre- 
viate  the  wars.*'  But  in  the  above  enumeration,  it  will  be 
observed  that  most  acftion  can  be  expressed  in  terms  of  con- 
flict. Life,  whether  individual  or  national,  especially  the 
serious  part  of  it,  is  largely  made  up  of  overcoming  obstacles, 
Man's  serious  life  is  mainly  a  battle  with  opposing  forces. 
These  may  be  men  or  animals,  disease  or  ignorance,  winter 


i 


136  THE  CURRICULUM 

or  famine,  or  powerful  forces  of  Nature.  But  fight  them  he 
must;  and  he  lives  mainly  in  the  fight,  —  so  far  as  his  seri- 
ous moments  are  concerned.  And  even  his  best  play  is  the 
mock-fight. 

To  participate  actively  in  the  wars  of  the  national  group 
is  to  act  with  it  when  its  action  is  most  strenuous  and  when 
its  solidarity  is  most  conscious.  Let  youth,  therefore,  mingle 
with  the  group  at  such  times  and  they  will  then  rapidly  and 
effectively  take  on  a  vitalized  nationalistic  consciousness. 
For  this  reason,  let  youth  continue  to  refight  the  colonial 
wars,  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  the  later  wars  with  Eng- 
land, Spain,  Mexico,  and  the  Indian  tribes.  Let  the  accounts 
of  these  fights  be  so  presented  that  youth  can  refight  them 
in  that  spirited,  intense,  and  whole-hearted  way  that  is^ 
congenial  to  its  hot  blood;  and  which  is  necessary  for  firing 
the  enthusiasms  of  youth  and  for  indissolubly  fusing  the 
individual  into  conscious  and  acquiescent  membership  in 
the  national  group.  The  "man  without  a  country"  is  the 
man  who  has  never  fought  with  his  group  for  his  group. 
Since  the  historical  account  is  to  be  used  primarily  as  a 
means  of  reconstructing  the  group  experience,  the  reading 
must  not  be  simply  an  abstract  sociological  and  political 
analysis  of  conditions,  of  causes  and  effects,  etc.;  and  dull 
chronological  record  of  happenings.  The  purpose  should  be 
living;  and  learning  through  living.  If  the  group-life  of  those 
stirring  times  is  relived  in  the  right  way,  there  will  be  no 
dearth  of  proper  learning. 

This  reconstruction  of  experience  requires  that  the  whole 
national  fight  be  presented  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
participants  upon  one  side.  When  one  relives  the  fight,  he 
has  to  be  on  one  side  or  the  other.  If  he  is  neutral,  then  he 
is  not  reliving  the  fight.  He  is  an  idle  bystander.  He  will  not 
be  warmed  by  vicarious  participation.  His  consciousness 
will  not  be  effectively  nationahzed.   He  will  remain  a  man 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  137 

without  a  country.  This  need  of  taking  the  point  of  view  of 
the  participants  on  one  side  or  the  other  is  intuitively 
recognized  by  the  writers  of  our  textbooks  and  by  teachers 
in  their  discussion.  Its  purpose  must  be  seen  and  the  method 
made  conscious,  however,  because  of  the  demand  often 
voiced  that  historical  presentation,  on  even  the  concrete 
levels,  be  coldly  scientific,  and  look  at  the  actions  of  all  sides 
equally  and  without  sympathy.  Our  apparently  contrary 
suggestion  does  not  imply  any  deviation  from  exact  his- 
torical truth  in  the  presentation.  It  is  only  to  recognize  the 
principle  of  perspective;  and  the  local  and  partial  nature  of 
all  active  experience.  The  participants  on  one  side  in  a  bat- 
tle, let  us  say,  may  see  the  whole  action  truly,  —  from  their 
side,  —  and  yet  have  a  different  vision,  different  object- 
ives and  emotional  experiences  from  those  of  their  oppo- 
nents. It  is  true,  in  entering  sympathetically  into  the  ex- 
periences of  one  side  and  not  that  of  both  at  the  same 
time,  the  experience  is  partial.  But  no  method  has  yet 
been  found  of  entering  into  the  experiences  of  both  sides 
at  once. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  the  reconstruction  of  the  actual 
experience  of  the  participants  in  the  action  is  to  be  vera- 
cious, then  it  must  be  partial.  The  incomplete  vision  dis- 
torted by  perspective,  the  sympathies  for  the  one  side  and 
the  antipathies  for  the  other  were  just  as  much  realities  of 
the  period  as  the  objective  action.  Their  revelation  must  be 
as  adequate  in  the  reconstructed  experience  or  it  will  not 
accurately  reproduce  the  original  conditions. 

The  preventive  of  exaggerated  and  intolerant  nationalism 
which  might  result  from  a  disproportionate  amount  of 
sympathetic  experience  upon  the  one  side  is  not  at  bottom 
to  look  with  cold,  impersonal  scientific  eye  uj>on  the  nations; 
but  rather  at  different  times  to  relive  the  experiences  as 
presented  from  both  points  of  view.   That  is  to  say,  let  stu- 


138  THE  CURRICULUM 

dents  relive  the  experiences  of  the  Revolutionary  War  as 
accurately  presented  from  the  British  point  of  view;  im- 
aginatively traveling  and  associating  with  the  British  armies 
and  unconsciously  taking  on  its  valuations  and  aspirations 
and  seeing  everything  from  its  side.  This  was  just  as  much 
a  part  of  the  actual  experience  of  the  times.  Let  the  student 
read  the  history  of  the  Mexican  War  as  a  shadow-member  of 
the  army  of  Santa  Ana,  and  thus  see  the  war  through 
Mexican  eyes.  This  is  just  as  true  a  view  of  it  as  the  one 
from  the  American  side. 

Not  only  can  a  sound  nationalism  be  developed  experi- 
entially,  but  also  the  corrective  to  exaggeration  can  be  ex- 
perientially  developed.  And  in  the  two  processes  the  expe- 
riential foundation  is  laid  for  a  tolerant  social  consciousness 
that  is  wider  than  the  national;  and  which  can  look  equally 
and  impersonally  upon  all  sides. 

Let  the  program  of  conflict,  however,  be  no  narrow  one  of 
military  wars  alone.  Let  there  be  far  fuller  experience  on  the 
part  of  youth  in  the  Nation's  economic  struggle  for  the 
world's  markets.  This  is  going  on  at  the  present  time.  It  has 
been  going  on  these  hundred  years  or  more.  Let  youth  read 
a  spirited  history  of  our  American  merchant  marine;  of  the 
contest  we  have  made  in  the  markets  of  South  America, 
China,  Russia,  Australia,  the  Philippines,  etc.;  and  of  our 
struggle  to  keep  our  home  markets  for  our  home  producers 
as  against  foreign  competition.  Let  the  present  aspects  of 
this  economic  struggle  be  made  to  stand  out  clear  by  giving 
full  space  to  the  last  decade  or  two.  Naturally  the  student's 
participative  experience  in  this  economic  struggle  must  come 
later  in  the  course  than  the  military  struggles. 

The  corrective  to  vision  so  as  to  prevent  distorted  social 
perspective  is  to  read  also  vivid  accounts  of  British  com- 
merce from  their  point  of  view;  of  French  commerce  from 
their  angle  of  vision;  of  Japanese  commerce,  etc. 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  139 

A  still  larger  program  of  experience  should  relate  to  the 
large-group  conflict  involved  in  its  control  of  powerful  in- 
ternal interests:  railroad  corporations,  manufacturing, 
mining,  and  commercial  organizations,  financial  classes, 
capitalist  and  labor  groups,  poKtical  spoilsmen,  etc.  Stu- 
dents, perhaps  on  the  high-school  level,  need  to  read,  for 
example,  the  history  of  railroad  regulation.  This  should 
reveal  the  self-seeking  character  in  the  past  of  those  power- 
ful organizations.  It  should  present  an  extended  story  of 
the  concrete  ways  in  which  they  have  tried,  often  success- 
fully, to  over-reach  the  public;  and  of  the  fight  made  by  the 
public  by  way  of  resisting  such  powerful  predatory  attacks. 
Like  all  the  rest,  this,  too,  should  be  no  dull  sociological 
chronology  and  analysis,  but  a  living  reconstruction  of 
spirited  group-conflict.  And  it  needs  to  be  seen  with  the 
perspective  of  the  large-group  point  of  view.  The  purpose 
being  the  development  of  the  wider  community  conscious- 
ness as  opposed  to  that  of  the  specialized  group,  this  wider 
consciousness  that  made  the  fight  originally  must  be  re- 
constructed and  reexperienced  in  the  youthful  fighter.  He 
will  be  thereby  shaped  for  that  continuing  general  commu- 
nity consciousness  that  must  continue  the  fight  in  whatever 
form  it  may  nowadays  arise.  Having  thus  fought  the  rail- 
roads in  the  past,  he  thus  takes  on  the  racial  experience,  so 
to  speak,  in  the  community  handling  of  them. 

"But  the  railroads  perform  indisj>ensable  services;  and 
they  have  rights  proportioned  to  those  services,"  one  says. 
"Therefore  these  matters  should  not  be  seen  from  just  one 
side."  This  is  all  very  true.  And  in  chapter  X  we  presented 
a  part  of  the  plan  of  training  men  to  do  full  justice;  namely, 
reading  a  sympathetic  presentation  of  the  history  of  rail- 
road development  and  labors  written  from  their  point  of 
view.  Each  type  of  account  is  then  a  corrective  for  the 
special  perspective  of  the  other.   In  either  case  the  student 


140  THE  CURRICULUM 

is  called  upon  to  take  sides.  But  not  to  take  a  side  is  not  to 
enter  the  action;  and  therefore  not  to  have  experience  — 
neither  large-group  nor  small-group.  To  attain  the  large- 
group  attitudes  and  valuations  and  understanding,  he  must 
fight  the  large-group  battle,  from  its  point  of  view;  and  stren- 
uously. But  to  correct  the  distortion  of  perspective,  he  must 
at  another  time,  in  this  vicarious  way,  also  fight  the  small- 
group  battle  against  the  large-group;  and  with  the  same  vigor 
and  single-mindedness.  The  two  sides  are  to  be  known,  not 
by  sitting  on  the  fence  and  disinterestedly  observing  both, 
but  by  plunging  in,  first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other, 
and  learning  each  side  by  experiencing  it. 

The  problem  is  closely  analogous  to  that  of  visual  per- 
spective. As  one  looks  out  on  the  landscape  his  image  is  a 
distortion.  He  sees  near  things  large  and  clear  and  solid; 
and  far  things  small  and  dim  and  unreal.  The  corrective 
is  change  of  position.  Let  him  go  to  the  far  things  and  re- 
new his  observations.  He  sees  the  things  reversed.  Observ- 
ing from  both  points  of  view  he  arrives  at  true  valuations  as 
to  all  the  things.  An  omniscient  eye  might  see  all  things 
truly  and  without  distortion  from  a  single  point  of  view.  But 
human  eyes  cannot.  Man's  view  is  always  partial  view,  to 
be  corrected  by  change  in  the  position  from  which  he  makes 
observation.  We  do  not  say  a  painting  is  untrue  because  it 
involves  the  visual  illusion  of  persp>ective.  Quite  the  reverse, 
it  is  untrue  when  it  neglects  perspective. 

In  arguing  that  the  partiality  of  actual  experience  shall  ex- 
ist in  reconstructed  educational  experience,  the  ends  in  view 
are  justice  and  fairness  and  the  balanced  judgment.  We 
are  to  recognize  that  we  are  dealing  with  two  forms  of  bias, 
both  inherently  necessary,  the  maleficent  results  of  which 
are  to  be  avoided  by  developing  both  in  the  same  minds 
in  ways  that  permit  each  to  correct  the  other.  The  experi- 
ence also  lays  the  foundation  of  concreteness  needed  for  the 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  141 

problem-solving  and  scientific  generalizations  that  involve 
seeing  all  sides  clearly  and  impartially.  Only  those  who 
have  experienced  all  sides  are  provided  with  the  materials 
necessary  for  sound  generalizations.  This  alone  can  bring 
them  into  vital  contacts  with  essential  realities  without 
which  problem-solving  is  impossible  and  generalizations  but 
empty  verbalities.  It  gives  them  the  substance  and  mate- 
rials of  thought  before  they  are  called  upon  to  think. 

Finally,  there  is  another  inspiring  type  of  national  con- 
flict, namely,  the  ceaseless  and  ever-strenuous  warfare  with 
the  hostile  or  reluctant  forces  of  Nature.  This  is  a  battle 
that  takes  place  mainly  through  the  speciaHzed  activities  of 
occupational  groups.  But  the  national  story  can  be  written 
so  as  to  show  these  specialized  groups  as  arms  of  the  large 
group.  Many  things  also  have  been  undertaken  in  a  na- 
tional way:  lighthouse  and  life-saving  service,  national 
forest  service,  the  weather  bureau,  quarantine  and  health 
service,  the  flood  control,  river  navigation,  the  fight  upon 
noxious  insects,  etc.  Let  students  read  the  full  story  of  these 
important  national  undertakings,  and  they  are  further  ex- 
perienced in  taking  the  national  point  of  view.  And  the 
greater  the  width  and  intensity  of  this  experience,  the  more 
intense  becomes  their  national-group  consciousness. 

Large-group  munidpal  consciousness 

In  one's  city,  for  example,  the  good  citizen  is  one  who 
habitually  looks  to  the  general  municipal  good.  He  has  a 
municipal  consciousness,  so  to  speak,  instead  of  a  special 
partisan  one. 

Now,  education  must  use  the  same  general  formula  for  de- 
veloping this  type  of  mind.  Participative  experience^  must 
be  the  basisjif  it^l.  Youth  must  ad  as  a  member  of  the 
lafge^unicipal  group.  As  he  sees  its  ends  from  the  large- 
group  point  oi  view,  and  helps  in  the  fight  against  the  oppos- 


142  THE  CURRICULUM 

ing  forces,  he  takes  on  the  lar^ 
understanding. 

Our  first  question  must  naturally  relate  to  the  things  that 
a  well-trained  adult  generation  is  supposed  to  be  doing  in 
uts  municipal  civic  capacity.  Youth's  best  civic  education 
[then  must  come  from  participation  along  with  adults  in  these 
activities.  In  the  following  unclassified  list  we  have  pre- 
sented a  few  of  the  matters  for  which  the  entire  body  of 
citizens,  old  and  young,  adult  and  adolescent,  are  respon- 
sible:— 

1.  Keeping  the  city  clean. 

2.  Making  the  city  sanitary. 

3.  Making  the  city  beantiful. 

4.  Care  of  the  city's  trees,  shrubbery,  and  grass-plots. 

5.  Preventing  the  smoke  evil. 

6.  Prevention  of  flies  and  mosquitoes. 

7.  Destruction  of  tree-  and  plant-destroying  insects. 

8.  Care  of  insect-destroying  birds. 

9.  Disposal  of  sewage,  ashes,  rubbish,  etc. 

10.  Providing  a  clean  and  pure  water-supply. 

11.  Providing  suitable  paving  for  all  streets  and  alleys. 

12.  Cleaning  and  lighting  all  streets  and  alleys. 

13.  Providing  for  safe  and  rapid  transportation  about  the  city. 

14.  Regulating  street  traffic. 

15.  Providing  play-opportunities  for  the  children. 

16.  Providing  adult  recreational  facilities. 

17.  Providing  and  maintaining  a  school  plant. 

18.  Educating  the  children. 

19.  Providing  for  a  sanitary  milk-supply. 

20.  Seeing  that  all  food  production  and  distribution  is  sanitary. 

21.  Protecting  the  city  from  fire. 

22.  Protecting  life  and  property. 

23.  Care  of  the  incapacitated. 

24.  Regulation  for  the  public  weal  of  all  public  utilit^v  corpora- 
tions, markets,  factories,  stores,  trades,  amusem(;nts  agen- 
cies, etc. 

25.  Getting  these  and  all  other  like  cociperative  actiA  ities  done 
at  a  proper  cost. 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  148 

26.  Securing  from  each  a  proper  character  of  service. 

27.  Currently  inspecting  the  conditions  of  each  type  of  service. 

28.  Currently  inspecting  the  results  obtained. 

29.  Currently  seeing  that  justice  is  done  each  specialized  group: 
that  it  is  supplied  with  all  its  needs,  —  not  more  and  not  less. 

30.  Current  inspection  of  municipal  or  general  community  needs 
—  so  as  to  keep  service  always  adjusted  to  actual  needs. 

The  list  is  not  exhaustive.  It  intends  only  to  present  types 
of  cooperative  tasks  tl^at  the  civic  community  is,  or  ought 
to  be,  currently  performing.  Some  of  the  tasks  are  performed 
by  all  citizens.  Some  are  delegated  to  specialized  individuals 
and  groups,  the  citizen's  current  duty  being  to  supervise 
the  labors;  to  make  and  to  keep  them  effective.  In  some  of 
the  cases  the  citizen  performs  part,  and  he  delegates  part. 

But  whether  he  directly  performs  the  functions  or  dele- 
gates them,  he  has  his  community  inspectorial  function  to 
perform.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  technique  of  the 
citizen's  civic  functions  has  not  yet  been  well  developed. 
Citizens  are  actually  doing  all  of  the  things  mentioned;  but 
often  doing  them  badly,  because  they  have  never  been  taught 
or  practiced  in  better  ways.  Much  we  hear  nowadays  con- 
cerning the  technical  inefficiency  of  workmen;  but  the 
technical  inefficiency  of  the  citizen  in  the  performance  of  his 
civic  functions  is  immeasurably  greater.  The  workman 
knows  what  he  is  after,  and  has  a  good  deal  of  technical 
knowledge  as  to  what  to  do,  even  though  but  nile-of -thumb. 
But  as  a  citizen,  his  ideas  are  very  vague  as  to  what  he  is 
after;  and  technical  knowledge  as  to  what  constitutes  effi- 
cient civic  service  and  as  to  methods  of  holding  his  fellow 
citizens  and  their  agents  responsible  for  efficient  performance 
is  very  small  indeed. 

Youth  and  adulthood  need  to  act  together  in  the  per- 
formance of  these  functions  —  for  the  secure  training  of 
youth.    But  the  problem  is  greatly  complicated  for  educa- 


144  THE  CURRICULUM 

tion  by  the  fact  that  adulthood  is  almost  as  much  in  need 
of  training  as  youth  itself.  Part-time  activity  is  a  super- 
lative training  device  in  the  occupational  world;  we  need  an 
exactly  analogous  training  method,  in  the  larger  civic  field. 
But  when  we  look  about  to  find  men  acting  together  con- 
sciously in  performing  their  cooperative  activities  effectively 
in  ways  in  which  youth  may  be  permitted  to  mingle,  except 
for  an  occasional  voting  to-day,  it  is  difficult  to  locate  any- 
thing but  haphazard  and  miscellany.  Men  seem  to  have 
got  the  impression,  and  women,  too,  that  the  primitive  art 
of  voting  unintelligently  is  the  major  function  of  the  citizen. 
Naturally  it  is  not  advisable  to  organize  part-time  activity 
in  voting  unintelligently. 

The  National  Education  Association  Committee  on  the 
Teaching  of  Community  Civics  expresses  clearly  the  need 
of  participative  or  part-time  civic  activity  on  the  part  of 
youth.  The  committee  writes:  — 

/  The  pupil  as  a  young  citizen  is  a  real  factor  in  community  af- 
/  fairs.  His  cooperation  in  many  phases  of  community  life  is  quite 
/  as  important  as  that  of  the  adult.  He  may  help  in  forming  public 
I  opinion,  not  only  among  his  mates,  but  in  the  home  and  in  the 
\  community  at  large. 

I       Therefore  it  is  a  task  of  the  teacher  to  cultivate  in  the  pupil  a 
/   sense  of  his  responsibility,  present  as  well  as  future. 

If  a  citizen  has  an  interest  in  civic  matters  and  a  sense  of  his 
personal  responsibility,  he  will  want  to  act. 

Therefore  the  teacher  must  help  the  pupil  to  express  his  con- 
victions in  word  and  deed.  He  must  be  given  an  opportunity,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  live  his  civics  both  in  the  school  and  m  the  com- 
munity outside. 

It  will  be  necessary  for  school  people  among  others  to 
take  the  lead  in  developing  the  technique  and  the  practice 
of  civic  p)erformance  in  our  cities  and  other  local  commu- 
nities. Just  as  it  has  been  our  educational  institutions  that 
have  taken  the  lead  in  improving  both  the  theory  and  the 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  145 

practice  of  agriculture  and  of  many  other  occupations,  so 
must  they  also  point,  and  in  practice  show,  the  way  to  civic 
effectiveness.  It  is  needed  for  the  education  of  all  the  peo- 
ple, adolescent  and  adult. 

To  begin  with,  citizens  of  a  given  city  must  know  what 
^hey  need.  Do  they  need  street  paving  that  is  twenty,  forty, 
or  sixty  feet  wide?  Or  do  they  need  one  width  in  one  portion 
of  the  city  and  another  width  in  another  portion?  And  if 
so,  what  widths,  and  where?  Do  they  need  one  thousand 
candle-power  to  the  mile  of  street-lighting?  or  five  thousand? 
or  twenty  thousand?  Should  the  city  water  system  supply  a 
daily  twenty-five  gallons  per  capita?  Or  should  it  be  one 
hundred  gallons,  or  three  hundred  gallons?  In  the  play- 
grounds fiu*nished  their  children,  should  there  be  twenty 
square  feet  per  child,  or  fifty,  or  one  hundred?  In  the  city 
health  service,  do  they  need  twenty-five  cents'  worth  each 
year  per  capitay  or  a  dollar's  worth,  or  five  dollars'  worth? 
In  the  maintenance  of  the  fire  department  or  the  police 
department,  do  they  need  the  services  of  one  man  for  each 
five  hundred  people?  or  one  for  each  one  thousand,  two 
thousand,  or  five  thousand  people?  If  a  large  number  is 
needed,  what  are  the  reasons?  If  a  small  number,  why  is 
the  city  so  fortunate?  Does  the  city  need  one  high-school 
teacher  for  each  fifteen  pupils,  or  each  twenty-five,  or  each 
thirty-five?  How  many  food  inspectors  does  the  city  need 
per  thousand  places  that  require  inspection?  How  many 
school  medical  examiners  and  school  nurses  per  thousand 
pupils?  For  an  effective  performance  of  civic  inspectorial 
functions  how  many  civic  centers  are  needed  for  each  ten 
thousand  population,  and  how  many  hours  of  regularly 
scheduled  community  meetings  are  desirable?  In  the  mat- 
ter of  public  hospital  facilities,  does  the  city  need  one  bed 
per  five  hundred  population?  Or  should  it  be  one  for  each 
thousand,  or  twenty-five  hundred?   A  city  cannot  perform 


146  THE  CURRICULUM 

any  civic  function  effectively  and  economically  until  it 
knows  what  it  needs,  —  and  in  definite  terms. 

Is  it  possible  to  find  out  what  people  need  in  these  and  all 
the  other  things?  It  is  easily  possible  to  arrive  at  approx- 
imations that  can  serve  until  more  accurate  standards  are 
available.  Take  the  matter  of  the  water-supply.  The  ac- 
companying table  shows  the  number  of  gallons  per  capita 
used  daily  in  a  number  of  large  cities  in  1912. 

Per  capita  daily  use  of  water  in  certain  cities  of  Europe  and 
America,  1912 

No 
gallons 

Buffalo 310 

Chicago 225 

Pittsburgh 218 

Philadelphia 208 

Boston 130 

Baltimore 115 

St.  Louis 107 

Cleveland. 102 

New  York 100 

Paris 63 

Hamburg 42 

London 40 

Liverpool 38 

Amsterdam 35 

Copenhagen 27 

Dresden 25 

Berlin 20 

There  is  nothing  for  beginning  this  type  of  study  that 
is  quite  comparable  in  value  to  an  array  of  facts.  The  table 
does  not  show  conclusively  just  the  amount  of  water-supply 
needed.   But  it  gives  one  a  few  ideas  to  start  with.   All  of 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  147 

these  cities  are  reasonably  clean  and  sanitary  —  on  the 
basis  of  1912  standards.  But  it  will  be  noticed  that  New  York 
does  as  well  on  a  hundred  gallons  per  capita  as  Philadelphia 
on  two  hundred,  or  Buffalo  on  three  hundred.  When  one 
notes  that  New  York's  figures  are  corroborated  by  those  of 
other  large  cities  like  Cleveland  and  St.  Louis,  it  appears 
at  least  probable  that  a  hundred  gallons  per  capita  is  enough 
to  meet  human  needs  in  large  American  cities,  and  that  there 
was  large  waste  in  the  four  cities  at  the  top  of  the  list. 

After  a  city  has  determined  the  amoimts  of  things  needed, 
the  next  question  for  the  learning  citizen,  adult  or  adoles- 
cent, is :  What  price  should  he  paid  ? 

To  take  a  specific  case  from  another  field,  What  price  per 
thousand  cubic  feet  should  be  paid  for  illuminating  and 
fuel  gas  in  our  cities?  The  following  table  presents  one  type 
of  facts  needed:  — 

Price  to  families  of  gas  per  1000  cubic  feet,  1912 

Jacksonville $1 .  25 

Charleston,  South  Caroliaa 1 .20 

Reading 1.10 

Harrisburgh 1 .  10 

Philadelphia 1.00 

Omaha 1 .00 

Buffalo 1.00 

Rochester 05 

Richmond 90 

Washington 85 

Pittsburgh 85 

New  York 80 

Chicago 80 

Boston 80 

Cleveland 75 

Duluth 75 


148  THE  CURRICULUM 

Toledo 70 

St.  Louis 60 

Milwaukee 60 

Grand  Rapids 50 

Detroit 50 

A  civic  group,  juvenile  or  adult,  with  such  a  table  before 
them,  will  probably  conclude  that  there  is  something  that 
needs  looking  into.  Conditions  in  different  cities  are  differ- 
ent, and  costs  should  be  correspondingly  different;  but  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  conditions  demand  such  variety  of 
prices  as  here  exhibited.  If  Detroit  is  properly  supplied, 
and  the  price  just,  at  fifty  cents,  why  must  Buffalo  pay 
twice  as  much?  If  sixty  cents  is  correct  for  a  city  some- 
what remote  from  the  coal-supply  like  Milwaukee,  why 
must  a  city  in  the  coal  region  like  Reading  pay  almost  twice 
as  much? 

With  such  a  table  as  a  starting-point,  those  studying  the 
problem  in  each  city  will  get  such  facts  as  the  following  for 
their  own  city,  and  for  each  of  the  other  cities  that  are 
used  for  comparison :  — 

1.  The  amount  of  investment  in  the  plant  per  unit  of  gas  de- 
livered. 

2.  Interest,  dividends,  and  taxes,  paid  per  unit  of  output. 
S.  Cost  of  maintenance  of  the  plant  per  unit  of  output. 

4.  Cost  of  operation  per  unit.  ,      ' 

5.  Percentage  of  cost  returned  from  the  by-products. 

6.  Price  made  to  the  large  consumers. 

7.  Price  made  to  the  small  consumers. 

Some  inkling  can  now  be  had  of  our  meaning  when  we 
said  that  educational  people  need  to  lead  in  the  performance 
of  civic  functions.  In  a  representative  democracy  like  ours 
the  major  function  of  the  people  as  citizens  is  the  per- 
formance of  the  inspectorial  function.  Most  of  their  coop- 
erative labors  they  will  delegate  ,to  speciaHzed  employees. 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  149 

But  they  can  never  delegate  to  anybody  the  function  of  ex- 
amining the  labors  thus  performed  for  them  and  pronounc- 
ing final  judgment  as  to  whether  satisfactory.  This  they 
must  do  for  themselves.  But  generally  they  have  not  the 
facts.  They  do  not  know  where  or  how  to  get  them.  And 
not  knowing  the  need  oi  facts  as  the  basis  of  all  government, 
they  have  not  even  asked  for  them;  and  do  not  yet  greatly 
appreciate  their  values,  even  when  set  before  them.  One 
never  knows  the  value  of  a  thing  till  he  has  tried  it. 

Citizens  need  to  have  such  arrays  of  facts  set  before  them 
in  civic  meetings,  in  bulletins,  and  in  the  public  press. 
Their  agents  who  are  responsible  for  the  labors  need  thus 
to  render  accounts  of  their  stewardship.  However  presented 
the  matters  need  to  be  taken  up  in  civic  meetings  for 
discussion,  comparison,  explanation,  justification,  etc.  Out 
of  such  discussion,  clarified  and  enlightened  public  opinion 
grows;  and  this  it  is  that  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  effective 
performance  of  the  inspectorial  function. 

Adults  at  present  are  not  much  more  capable  of  dis- 
cussing many  of  these  matters  than  the  young  people  in 
grammar  grades  and  high  school.  They  have  less  leisure  for 
the  purpose.  And  they  lack  the  trained  and  paid  intellectual 
and  social  leadership  that  is  supplied  the  young  people  in 
their  teachers.  But  adults  are  just  as  much  in  need  of  sys- 
tem, organization,  and  leadership  for  their  thinking.  Until 
society  has  evolved  a  profession  of  inspectorial  leadership, 
—  now  in  the  making,  as  revealed  in  our  bureaus  of  muni- 
cipal research,  etc.,  —  this  task  falls  naturally  to  the  two 
professions  of  education  and  journalism.  And  in  large  part 
at  least,  perhaps  chiefly,  it  must  always  remain  with  them. 

Now,  in  ways  which  we  shall  explain  more  fully  as  we  pro- 
ceed, it  is  possible  for  teachers  to  interest  the  young  people 
in  these  civic  problems;  to  use  them  as  fact-gatherers  and 
fact-organizers  for  the  total  commimity;  and  to  have  them 


150  THE  CURRICULUM 

present  the  facts  in  the  community  meetings  made  up  of 
both  adults  and  young  people.  These  students  can  search  the 
reports  of  their  own  and  other  cities  and  draw  up  the  tables 
of  comparative  and  other  facts.  They  can  prepare  charts, 
maps,  diagrams,  exhibits,  etc.,  that  will  reveal  a  wide  range 
of  well-organized  facts  for  the  topic  under  discussion.  They 
can  make  systematic  surveys  of  their  own  town  by  way  of 
bringing  a  wealth  of  concrete  facts  to  the  discussion.  They 
can  make  surveys  of  sanitary  conditions,  street-cleaning, 
street-paving,  garbage  disposal,  breeding-places  of  flies,  the 
city's  trees,  billboards,  smoke,  fire  protection,  distribu- 
tion of  police  over  the  city,  distribution  of  public  recreational 
opportunities,  the  milk-supply,  water-supply,  etc. 

In  connection  with  such  surveys  no  finer  practical  task 
can  be  devised  than  the  making  of  survey  maps  —  each  one 
carrying  its  information  and  its  lesson  to  the  public-spirited 
citizen.  They  can  make  health  maps,  recreation  maps, 
street-paving  maps,  street-cleaning  maps,  street-lighting 
maps,  crime  maps,  tree  maps,  maps  showing  breeding-places 
of  flies  and  mosquitoes,  etc.  Along  with  the  map-making 
they  can  make  exhibits,  models,  diagrams,  pictures,  statis- 
tical charts,  etc. 

They  can  do  it  all  for  the  practical  purpose  of  rightly 
forming  and  influencing  public  opinion  on  the  basis  of  ob- 
jective evidence.  This  is  the  most  fundamental  and  prac- 
tical civic  task  involved  in  the  citizen's  major  function  of 
inspectorial  supervision.  In  doing  this  the  young  people 
are  engaged  in  civic  part-time  work.  They  are  dealing  with 
actual  things.  The  motivation  is  not  make-believe.  It  is 
that  of  real  life.  They  are  bearing  responsibility  for  actual 
labors  that  they  can  see  need  to  be  performed.  They  are 
working  in  conjunction  with  adults,  under  their  leader- 
ship and  direction.  It  is  real  work.  It  is  not  play-civics  of 
the.  mock-court,  mock-congress  type.    The  motives  are  the 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  151 

same  as  those  that  control  adults  —  in  the  fact-gathering, 
the  fact-presentation,  and  in  the  judgments  arrived  at. 

But  the  facts  are  inaccessible?  Often  they  are;  specialized 
groups  like  to  keep  them  hidden  because  they  know  the 
bludgeoning  power  of  facts  when  applied  to  the  inspec- 
torial supervision  of  themselves.  But  at  the  present  time 
there  are  huge  quantities  of  accessible  facts  that  are  not  being 
utilized.  But  they  lack  significance,  we  are  then  told,  unless 
we  have  similar  facts  from  other  cities  for  tables  of  compari- 
son. And  they  say  that  while  school  people  may  get  the 
facts  relative  to  their  own  city,  they  cannot  secure  them 
from  other  cities.  The  objection  is  but  the  voice  of  inertia. 
Let  a  wide-awake  body  of  teachers  in  each  of  fifty  cities 
gather  pertinent  facts  for  their  own  city.  Let  them  send 
these  facts  to  each  of  the  other  forty-nine  cities.  Then  all 
will  have  the  facts  for  the  fifty  cities.  Most  of  the  actual  work 
of  collecting  the  facts  can  be  performed  by  the  students 
themselves.  They  can  do  the  sending,  the  receiving,  and 
draw  up  the  comparative  tables.  Better  educational  ex- 
perience for  them  cannot  be  devised.  It  is  a  continuing  task 
to  be  done  year  after  year. 

Civic  training  in  the  schools  can  be  healthy  and  virile 
only  as  it  involves  the  things  that  are  being  striven  for  by 
the  community.  It  must  be  an_OTganic  part  of  the  tptal 
civic  striving  of  the  community.  In  proportion  as  the  school 
isolates  itself  from  the  community  and  finds  mere  textbook 
matters  of  study  that  are  in  no  wise  related  to  the  condi- 
tions within  the  city,  the  school  work  drifts  from  its  proper 
moorings  and  loses  its  educational  effectiveness. 

In  addition  to  the  ways  mentioned,  another  method  of 
keeping  the  school  civic  work  grounded  in  reality  is  to  make 
the  schools,  as  fully  as  possible,  the  civic  forums  of  the  city 
—  especially  the  high  school.  For  example,  when  the  topic 
of  street-paving  is  being  considered  in  the  high-school  civics 


152  THE  CURRICULUM 

class,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  city  comicil 
which  has  charge  of  this  particular  work,  the  commissioner 
of  streets,  or  the  chief  of  the  bureau  of  public  works,  should 
be  invited  to  discuss  the  situation  before  the  high  school. 
When  the  subject  of  taxes  is  taken  up,  the  chairman  of  the 
finance  committee  of  the  city  council,  the  tax  collector,  or 
the  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of  the  school  board, 
should  be  invited  to  discuss  the  problems  of  taxation. 
When  the  topic  is  community  sanitation,  then  it  is  the  board 
of  health  and  its  inspectors  who  have  an  opportunity  of  dis- 
seminating the  necessary  sanitary  information.  Nearly 
all  civic  functions  are  delegated.  The  man  to  whom  any 
function  is  delegated  is  the  one  who  should  feel  responsible 
for  keeping  the  public  enlightened  as  to  his  work.  It  is  nec- 
essary for  his  own  effectiveness,  and  for  the  success  of  his 
labors  in  the  community. 

This  plan  is  incomplete  if  the  report  is  to  be  made  only 
to  the  high-school  students.  The  information  that  these 
men  have  should  be  for  the  whole  community.  Yet  here 
within  the  school  we  have  segregated  only  the  children  and 
youth  of  the  community.  Those  to  whom  the  information 
should  primarily  be  given,  namely,  the  adult  leaders  of 
the  community,  are  not  present.  The  officials  are  report- 
ing, not  to  the  men  who  hold  them  responsible,  but  only 
to  the  children;  and  in  a  comparatively  artificial  situation. 
They  cannot  talk  to  the  youth  of  the  city  in  normal  fashion 
if  they  are  talking  only  to  youth  in  isolation.  They  can  talk 
normally  only  as  they  are  addressing  the  adult  leaders  of 
the  city,  their  peers,  tho^e  to  whom  they  owe  their  respon- 
sibility. The  children  can  then  hear  and  learn  in  normal 
fashion.  Youth  must  learn  in  large  measure,  not  from  being 
addressed  directly,  but  from  listening  to  adulthood  talking 
to  adulthood.  It  is  for  youth  one  of  the  normal  modes  of 
participation  in  adult  affairs. 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  153 

It  may  be  objected  that  youth  has  a  right  to  its  own  life 
at  this  age,  and  ought  not  to  be  caught  up  in  the  wheels  of 
serious  adult  responsibilities;  that  it  has  a  right  to  a  long 
season  of  rosy-hued  irresponsibility  before  being  condemned 
to  these  things  that  belong  to  the  somber  gray  of  the  adult 
world.  In  reply,  let  us  say  that  it  is  in  mingling  in  the  full 
life  of  the  world  as  made  up  of  childhood,  youth,  maturity, 
and  old  age,  in  which  youth  finds  its  fullest  and  best  life. 
They  have  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of  play  of  an 
abundant  and  varied  character.  This  we  emphasize  fully 
in  other  portions  of  our  discussion.  But  youthful  partici- 
pation in  adult  activities  from  infancy  onward  is  really  one 
of  the  most  satisfying  and  most  beneficent  forms  of  play. 
They  do  not  give  up  life  in  having  something  in  it  besides 
the  purposeless.  Rather  do  they  find  it. 

Other  concrete  civic  activities 

\l  The  chief  part-time  civic  work  of  youth  will  be  participa- 
[tion  in  inspectorial  activities;  because  this  is  also  the  adult's 
major  civic  activity.  But  there  are  certain  other  community 
activities  not  yet  placed  entirely  in  specialized  hands.  And 
of  those  so  specialized,  there  are  certain  ones  in  which 
youthful  participation  is  possible. 

Children  can  aid  in  tree-planting  and  in  tree-care  —  an 
extension  of  the  Arbor-Day  spirit  to  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  days  in  the  year.  They  can  study  intensively  the  kinds 
j/of  trees  and  shrubbery  best  suited  to  the  city's  needs  and 
conditions  in  its  various  portions  —  modes  of  securing  them, 
of  planting  them,  and  of  protecting  them  from  drought, 
insects,  and  other  enemies.  They  can  be  organized  to  carry 
out  the  various  steps  of  the  labor  in  both  the  planting  and 
the  year-long  protection. 

**  Clean-up  week,"  like  Arbor  Day,  is  being  institution- 
alized for  the  training  of  children.  While  this  annual  spring 


154  THE  CURRICULUM 

renovation  is  an  excellent  civic  opportunity  and  should  be 
vigorously  carried  on,  even  better  training  comes  from  year- 
long interest  and  attention  to  the  need,  by  way  of  prevent- 
ing a  goodly  portion  of  the  accumulated  rubbish. 

As  conditions  change,  as  work  becomes  specialized,  and 
as  groups  grow  large,  this  "community  chore-service"  is 
coming  to  take  the  place  of  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the  family 
chore-service  performed  by  children  in  past  generations.  In 
our  professional  literature  nowadays  we  read  of  a  consider- 
able variety  of  possible  community  activities :  — 

1.  City  beautification. 

2.  Care  and  protection  of  birds. 

3.  Anti-fly  campaigns. 

4.  Anti-mosquito  campaigns. 

5.  The  fight  on  weeds. 

6.  Cleaning  up  vacant  lots. 

7.  Patrolling  railroad  and  street-car  crossings  at  the  hours  when 
kindergarten  and  primary  children  are  going  to  and  from 
school. 

8.  Constructing  community  property:  ice-boxes  for  poor-relief; 
tables,  cabinets,  book-cases,  work-benches,  desks,  stage 
scenery,  printed  helps,  textbooks,  etc.,  for  the  school;  bird- 
houses  for  parks  and  streets;  rubbish -receptacles  for  streets; 
playground  equipment  and  apparatus  for  school  and  park 
systems;  etc. 

9.  Making  minor  repairs  on  public  property. 

10.  Fighting  fires  in  villages  where  there  is  no  specialized  fire 
department. 

11.  Raising  and  delivering  flowers  to  the  sick  and  the  aged. 

12.  Looking  after  the  sanitary  aspects  of  schoolrooms,  recrea- 
tive places,  etc. 

13.  Decoration  of  school-buildings. 

14.  The  community  labors  of  Boy    Scouts,  Camp-Fire    Girls, 
Juvenile  Civic  Leagues,  etc. 

15.  Clearing  the  snow  from  sidewalks  and  paths;  and  sprinkling 
sand  or  ashes  on  icy  sidewalks. 

By  way  of  showing  the  practical  man*s  attitude  toward 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  155 

this  problem  we  quote  the  following  words  from  an  editorial 
in  one  of  our  metropolitan  newspap>ers,  entitled  "Citizen- 
ship and  the  Schools  " :  — 

The  public  school  has  been  less  effective  than  it  might  and 
should  have  been.  It  has  laid  most  of  its  emphasis  on  information, 
little  or  none  on  will  and  moral  relations.  In  short,  the  public 
school  needs  drastic  modernization  to  make  it  a  practical  and  eflS- 
cient  instrument  of  at  least  rudimentary  good  citizenship.  ...  It 
must  take  upon  its  broad  shoulders  a  large  burden.  It  rrrnst  make 
itself  rather  a  civic  gymnasiumy  a  social  drill-yard  for  soldiers  of  peace 
who  march  forward. 

These  civic  labors  of  youth,  like  the  inspectorial  ones 
previously  mentioned,  must  not  be  things  detaqhyi  and 
isolated  from  the  life^ofjthe  generaf  communityli^^^e  chil- 
dren must  see  and  feel  their  labors  to  be  but  a  delegated 
part  of  a  serious  community  responsibility  of  which  the 
adults  are  carrying  l:he  major  portion  of  thejoad.  Other- 
wise their  efforts  will  be  but  irresponsible  make-believe;  and 
soon  degenerate  or  disappear.  If  the  civic  responsibilities 
are  such  that  they  are  conceived  to  rest  only  upon  children, 
then  they  rest  upon  nobody;  since  they  are  not  real  com- 
munity responsibilities  V 

But  this  is  only  local  participation  by  way  of  developing 
municipal-mindedness.  Can  the  plan  be  extended  for  train- 
ing purposes  to  practical  state  and  national  service?  Under 
present  conditions  of  war  it  is  being  done:  both  by  those 
students  who  have  entered  active  military,  naval,  aerial, 
Red  Cross,  or  other  service;  and  by  those  at  home  who  are 
striving  along  with  adults  to  augment  production  and  to 
facilitate  just  and  economical  distribution  and  consumption. 
The  consciousness  of  solidarity  and  the  spirit  of  service 
thereby  engendered  is  one  our  Nation  cannot  afford  to  lose 
in  time  of  peace.  It  can  be  kept,  however,  only  if  there  is 
actual  and  genuine  and  necessary  service  to  be  rendered. 


156  THE  CURRICULUM 

Make-believe  service  will  not  accomplish  the  purposes^  The 
largest  field  of  active  peace-time  service  is  that  of  the 
specialized  occupations.  As  industries  grow,  this  service 
tends  more  and  more  to  be  national.  A  major  social  problem 
is  not  to  make  it  service,  —  it  is  already  that,  —  but  to 
make  it  seen  as  service.  The  educational  problem  here  is 
largely  so  to  train  occupationally  that  the  workers  can 
realize  the  social  implications  and  relations  of  their  labors; 
so  that  they  will  see  their  peace-service  to  the  nation  on  a 
plane  no  less  high  than  their  war-service  to  the  same  nation. 
Professor  James  was  of  the  opinion  that  this  should  be 
prepared  for  by  some  years  of  general  occupational  service 
He  writes :  ^  — 

If  now  —  and  this  is  my  idea  —  there  were,  instead  of  military 
conscription,  a  conscription  of  the  whole  youthful  population  to 
form  for  a  certain  number  of  years  a  part  of  the  army  enlisted 
against  Nature,  injustice  would  tend  to  be  evened  up,  and  numer- 
ous benefits  to  the  commonwealth  would  follow.  The  military 
ideals  of  hardihood  and  discipline  would  be  wrought  into  the 
growing  fiber  of  the  people;  no  one  would  remain  blind,  as  the 
luxurious  classes  now  are  blind,  to  man's  real  relations  to  the  globe 
he  lives  on,  and  to  the  permanently  solid  and  hard  foundations  of 
his  higher  life.  To  coal-  and  iron-mines,  to  freight-trains,  to  fishing- 
fleets  in  December,  to  dish-washing,  clothes-washing,  and  window- 
washing,  to  road-building  and  tunnel-making,  to  foundries  and 
stoke-holes,  and  to  the  frames  of  sky-scrapers,  would  our  gilded 
youths  be  drafted  off,  according  to  their  choice,  to  get  the  child- 
ishness knocked  out  of  them,  and  to  come  back  into  society  with 
healthier  sympathies  and  soberer  ideas.  They  would  have  paid 
their  blood-tax,  done  their  part  in  the  immemorial  human  warfare 
against  Nature;  they  would  tread  the  earth  more  proudly;  the 
women  would  value  them  more  highly;  they  would  be  better 
fathers  and  teachers  of  the  following  generation. 

Such  a  conscription,  with  the  state  of  public  opinion  that  would 
have  required  it,  and  the  moral  fruits  it  would  bear,  would  pre- 

»  "The  Moral  Equivalent  of  War."  By  William  James.  In  McClure's, 
August,  1910. 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  157 

serve  in  the  midst  of  a  pacific  civilization  the  manly  virtues  which 
the  military  party  is  so  afraid  of  seeing  disappear  in  peace.  We 
should  get  toughness  without  callousness,  authority  with  as  little 
cruelty  as  possible,  and  painful  work  done  cheerily  because  the 
duty  is  temporary.  ...  I  spoke  of  the  "moral  equivalent"  of  war. 
So  far,  war  has  been  the  only  force  that  can  discipline  a  whole 
community,  and,  until  an  equivalent  discipline  is  organized,  I 
believe  that  war  must  have  its  way.  But  I  have  no  serious  doubt 
that  the  ordinary  prides  and  shames  of  social  man,  once  developed 
to  a  certain  intensity,  are  capable  of  organizing  such  a  moral  equiv- 
alent as  I  have  sketched,  or  some  other  just  as  effective  for  pre- 
serving manliness  of  type.  Though  an  infinitely  remote  Utopia 
just  now,  in  the  end  it  is  but  a  question  of  time,  of  skillful  propa- 
gandism  and  of  opinion-making  men  seizing  historic  opportuni- 
ties. 

Whether  any  of  the  features  of  this  proposal  are  practi- 
cable or  not,  it  reveals  a  real  educational  problem  of  large 
proportions  and  complexity.  Upon  our  profession  rests 
responsibility  for  proposing  and  effecting  a  practicable 
solution. 

The  international  situaiion 

Thus  far  we  have  discussed  local  and  national  civic  prob- 
lems. In  the  knitting-up  of  the  world's  social  fabric  polit- 
ically, the  national  group  is  practically  the  ultimate  group. 
In  the  world  of  productive  industry,  however,  whether 
agriculture,  manufacture,  mining,  or  other,  it  is  clear  that 
the  peoples  of  the  world  are  interdependent;  that  on  the 
side  of  production  we  are  really  a  world-community,  each 
region  producing  for  all.  When  this  is  the  case,  naturally 
in  the  distribution  and  consumption  of  commodities  we  are 
a  world-community.  Whatever  the  political  situation  may 
be,  it  is  clear  that  we  have  already  largely  achieved  economic 
cosmopolitanism.  On  the  side  of  art  also  we  are  a  world- 
community;  and  also  in  the  fields  of  hterature,  and  science, 
and  technology,  and  invention,  etc. 


158  THE  CURRICULUM 

I  But  in  our  social-group  or  political  consciousness,  we  have 
1 —  until  the  last  few  years  —  scarcely  even  looked  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  nationalism.  To  look  upon  other  peoples 
as  members  of  a  world-family,  to  look  with  friendly  eye 
upon  other  nations  as  equal  neighbors  having  rights  similar 
to  and  equal  to  our  own,  even  to  contemplate  common 
action  with  such  neighbors  in  the  cooperative  promotion  of 
world-welfare,  —  such  attitudes  we  had  felt  to  border  dan- 
gerously upon  mild  treason  to  our  country.  PoHtically  we 
have  been  essentially  parochial-minded. 

The  present  World- War  is  revealing  the  interdependen- 
cies  of  peoples.  We  now  see  that  no  nation  can  live  to  itself. 
We  are  coming  to  realize  that  just  as  the  States  of  our  Union 
form  one  national  family,  each  of  which  is  necessary  to  the 
highest  welfare  of  all,  so  the  various  countries  of  the  world 
are  members  of  a  planetary  family  and  each  necessary  to 
the  highest  welfare  of  the  others.  We  see  that  nations  have 
rights  equal  to  our  own;  that  nations  have  duties  also  to  the 
'Others  that  are  proportioned  to  their  rights.  It  has  been 
(demonstrated  that  unbridled  nationalism  is  a  peril  to  the 
(World.  In  our  previous  discussion  we  have  tried  to  show  the 
inevitability  of  the  ethics  of  aggression  as  a  component  part 
of  the  nationalistic  consciousness.  In  proportion  as  nation- 
alism is  strong,  the  dual  standard  of  social  conduct  arises. 
In  such  case  the  nation  sees  its  own  rights  large  and  sees 
its  duties  small.  In  mind  and  heart,  in  ambition  and  in 
action,  such  a  nation  becomes  parasitic  upon  the  rest. 
When  not  held  in  check  by  a  cosmopolitan  consciousness, 
such  a  nation,  if  it  feels  strong  enough,  goes  ruthlessly 
abroad  to  rob  and  plunder  the  others.  Of  this  we  have 
sufficient  practical  demonstration.  In  the  present  World- 
War  we  are  but  reaping  the  natural  and  inevitable  fruits  of 
exaggerated  nationalism. 

We  are  not  here  condemning  nationahsm.   We  have  al- 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  159 

ready  said  that  the  large-group  consciousness  exists  upon 
different  levels.  A  wide  and  generous  municipal  conscious- 
ness is  the  cure  for  the  evils  that  result  from  the  petty 
consciousness  of  self-interested  small-groups  within  the  city. 
A  county  or  congressional  district  or  state  consciousness 
that  looks  to  the  welfare  of  the  total  group  specified  is  that 
which  for  that  region  eliminates  the  parasitism  and  other 
evils  resulting  from  the  small-group  consciousness.  Rising 
to  the  next  level,  it  is  then  a  broad,  generous,  and  vitalized 
national  consciousness  which  alone  can  provide  a  spirit  of 
mutual  service  on  the  part  of  all  of  the  constituent  portions 
of  the  nation.  Within  the  nation  this  national  conscious- 
ness is  in  all  respects  most  beneficent.  Without  it  the  nation 
disintegrates  into  internal  warring  and  parasitic  groups, 
bringing  all  the  evils  of  social  chaos  in  their  train.  Because 
of  its  intra-national  aspect,  we  must  emphasize  the  fullest 
practicable  development  of  the  national  consciousness. 
I  In  insisting  that  we  also  develop^  an  mternational  eons. 
Isciousness  we  are  lDut  arriving  at  the  next  and  inevitable 
\logical  step  of  the  same  argument.  The  national  conscious- 
ness at  the  present  time  needs  to  be  huge  in  order  to  take 
care  of  the  difficult  intra-national  problems;  but  if  it  is  not 
tempered  by  a  large-group  consciousness  that  takes  in  all 
of  the  rest  of  the  world,  the  extra-national  attitudes  thereby 
developed  threaten  the  rest  of  the  nations;  and  in  reaction, 
the  nation  itself.  The  cosmopolitan  consciousness  alone 
can  bring  about  that  wise  cooperation  of  the  varionsi  na- 
tions of  the  earth  for  the  more  adequate  promotion  (^  the 
general  world  welfare.  Just  as  nationaHsm  will  tempe.ii  the 
spirit  of  strife  that  tends  to  arise  within  the  i^atjon,  sq  will 
internationalism  temper  the  analogous  spirit  of  strif^  that 
tends  to  arise  among  the  members  of  the  planetary  group. 

We  are  not  here  referring  to  an  international  pqlitical 
organization.  That  has  not  yet  come  into  being.  If  \%  ev^f 


160  THE  CURRICULUM 

arrives,  it  will  grow  out  of  a  widely  diffused  cosmopolitan 
consciousness.  This  is  prerequisite  to,  and  must  precede, 
any  organization.  Our  educational  problem  relates  only  to 
the  development  of  this  cosmopolitan  consciousness.  The 
state  papers  of  our  President  have  recently  breathed  the 
spirit  of  this  high  consciousness  which  is  rapidly  transfusing 
the  minds  of  all  peoples. 

Turning  now  to  the  educational  problem,  How  are  we  to 
develop  this  cosmopolitan  consciousness?  We  have  already 
referred  to  the  place  of  action,  observation,  participation 
with  a  group,  as  a  mode  of  developing  an  understanding  of 
that  group  and  sympathies  with  its  purposes  and  its  labors. 
We  referred  to  the  large  place  of  reading  for  the  sake  of 
vicarious  action  in  the  case  of  the  large  groups.  What  is 
true  of  reading  in  the  case  of  the  nationalistic  spirit  is  even 
more  true  of  reading  in  the  development  of  the  cosmopolitan 
spirit.  There  is  needed  for  the  world  as  a  whole,  and  of  the 
separate  nations  that  make  it  up,  readings  that  will  permit 
children  and  youth  sympathetically  to  enter  into  the  actions 
of  men  in  the  various  regions  of  the  earth.  Let  one  in  his 
reading  live  imaginatively  with  a  nation  for  a  sufficient 
length  of  time  and  he  will  come  to  feel  himself  one  with  it, 
in  much  the  same  way  as  though  he  dwelt  among  them  for 
a  time. 

The  readings  for  the  purpose  will  be  history,  biography, 
travels,  geography,  and  literature.  With  any  of  these  the 
primary  aim  will  be  the  reconstruction  of  life  within  the 
various  lands;  so  that  the  reader  can  relive  it.  In  proportion 
as  it  is  vivid  and  stirring  so  that  the  reader  can  become 
warmed,  can  lose  himself  to  actual  time  and  place,  can 
become  enveloped  in  the  action  of  which  he  reads,  it  will  be 
effective  for  the  purpose. 

The  ends  in  view  demand  catholicity  in  the  choice  of  the 
readings.  Schools  need  to  gather  of  each  type  readings  that 


LARGE-GROUP  CONSCIOUSNESS  161 

reveal  all  important  present-day  nations  and  peoples; 
Canada,  America,  Mexico,  Central  America,  West  Indies, 
Brazil,  Argentina,  Chile,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Japan, 
China,  India,  Turkey,  Russia,  the  Balkans,  the  Central 
Empires,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Spain,  France,  Belgium,  Neth- 
erlands, Scandinavia,  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  North 
Africa,  Egypt,  Central  Africa,  and  South  Africa;  at  least 
these.  This  is  to  choose  the  history  of  grammar  grades 
and  high  schools  on  a  basis  that  has  not  hitherto  been  em- 
ployed; and  the  literature;  and  the  biography.  This  basis 
has  been  employed,  however,  in  the  case  of  geography  which 
actually  does  reveal  in  some  degree  all  of  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  The  principle  that  is  applicable  to  geography  appears 
to  be  equally  applicable  to  history  and  literature, 
s  Another  type  of  social  reading  belongs,  then,  on  the  later 
levels  of  education.  After  developing  understanding  and 
sympathetic  attitudes  toward  the  various  individual  na- 
tions, students  are  prepared  to  read,  not  the  particular  his- 
tories of  nations,  but  world-history:  that  which  looks  in  a 
unitary  way  to  the  entire  world-situation.  Thus  the  student 
will  read  the  history  of  worid-commerce;  history  of  world- 
industry;  history  of  transportation;  history  of  agriculture; 
history  of  pohtical  institutions;  history  of  finance;  sanita- 
tion; recreational  activities;  municipal  government;  etc.  In 
each  case  the  history  of  the  last  decade  or  two  should 
probably  be  as  voluminous  as  that  of  all  of  the  previous  cen- 
turies combined.  This  will  then  introduce  all  of  the  needed 
geographical  and  economic  elements.  Through  problem- 
solving,  discussions,  etc.,  students  can  be  brought  to  an 
understanding  of  the  general  principles  involved. 

The  thing  demanded  is  not  a  new  program.  It  is  rather  a 
definition  of  social  purposes  on  the  basis  of  which  present 
programs  can  be  rectified  and  further  developed.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  in  our  supplementary  readings,  especially  in 
the  elementary  school,  we  are  tending  more  and  more  to 


162  THE  CURRICULUM 

give  width  of  world-understanding  both  historical  and 
geographical.  High  schools  and  colleges  of  liberal  arts  have 
been  more  enmeshed  in  tradition,  and  in  the  task  of  training 
specialists.  On  the  levels,  therefore,  where  most  of  this 
training  should  be  accomplished,  it  has  scarcely  been  begun. 
But  in  their  recent  inclusions  of  industrial  history,  commer- 
cial history,  industrial  and  commercial  geography,  history 
of  civiUzation,  a  fuller  emphasis  upon  modern  problems,  etc., 
we  discern  the  ferment  at  work  upon  these  levels  also. 

"The  program  is  impossibly  large,"  it  is  objected.  "An 
impossible  task  cannot  be  the  right  solution."  The  objection 
shows  the  need  of  referring  to  the  methods  to  be  employed. 
It  will  be  noted  we  have  nowhere  said  that  these  histories 
are  to  be  learned.  We  have  only  said  that  students  need 
experiences  of  certain  kinds;  and  that  these  experiences  are 
to  be  had  in  part  by  reading  vivid  historical  accounts.  The 
history  of  a  nation  is  to  be  read  rapidly.  This  is  necessary 
for  warming  the  personality  and  making  one  for  the  time  a 
member  of  the  group.  If  a  four-hundred-page  book  is  not 
devoured  in  ten  or  fifteen  days  the  experience  is  likely  to  be 
anaemic  and  relatively  ineffective.  If  the  experience  is  vivid 
and  stirring,  it  will  leave  its  normal  residues  in  memory. 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  considering  methods  that 
knowledge  is  not  the  most  fundamental  thing  aimed  at;  but 
rather  social  attitudes  and  valuations.  For  these,  it  is  hving 
experience,  not  memorizing  experience,  that  is  the  all- 
important  thing.  And  even  in  the  matter  of  knowledge  it  is 
not  a  remembrance  of  specific  facts  that  is  desired;  but 
rather  a  knowledge  of  general  social  principles.  Let  the 
reading  experience  be  of  the  type  suggested,  and  the  proper 
materials  are  provided  for  problem-solving  and  generaliza- 
tion. Right  accomplishment  of  these  latter  requires  not 
merely  batches  of  pale  facts,  but  all  the  emotionalized 
attitudes  and  valuations  that  can  arise  only  out  of  emotion- 
alized experience. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Moral  education  has  always  been  and  must  always  be 
looked  upon  as  fundamental  in  the  training  of  youth.  In 
our^chools~we^havelittempte31f  through  direct  and  indi- 
rect methods;  in  our  churches  through  direct  teaching,  per- 
suasion, and  the  fear-motive.  It  is  probable  that  most 
actual  training  has  been  accomplished  within  the  Great 
School  of  practical  social  action  and  reaction. 

Those  who  live  as  members  of  the  small  social  group,  and 
from  year's  end  to  year's  end  breathe  its  social  atmosphere; 
naturally  and  inevitably  take  on  its  attitudes,  valuations, 
and  dual  standard  of  ethics.  Direct  ethical  instruction  by 
school  or  church  seems  relatively  ineffectual  in  the  face  of 
these  powerful  experiential  influences.  On  the  other  hand, 
those  who  grow  up  in  vital  contact,  direct  and  indirect,  with 
the  large  social  group,  and  who  breathe  its  humanizing 
atmosphere,  naturally  and  inevitably  take  on  the  large- 
group  attitudes,  valuations,  and  tendencies  lo  social  reac- 
tion. In  such  case,  church  and  school  may  well  reinforce 
the  process  by  giving  supplementary  training.  Their  efforts 
are  Ukely  to  be  efficacious,  however,  not  in  proportion  to 
their  direct  teaching  or  persuasion,  but  rather  in  proportion 
as  they  are  actually  able  to  provide  the  conditions  of  large- 
group  living  experience. 

A  frequent  conception  of  moral  training  is  well  expressed 
in  the  report  of  the  National  Council  Committee  on  Moral 
Education :  — 

If  we  would  have  strong  and  beautiful  characters  in  adult  life, 
certain  elemental  virtues  must  be  inculcated  in  childhood  and 
youth.    These  the  teachers  should  have  as  definitely  in  mind  as 


164  THE  CURRICULUM 

they  do  the  nouns  and  verbs  in  grammar  or  fractions  in  arithme- 
tic. They  must  know,  not  only  what  virtues  they  would  implant, 
but  how  they  would  develop  them.  Among  these  elemental  vir- 
tues we  would  include  those  which  are  generally  accepted  as  form- 
ing the  very  basis  of  character,  such  as  obedience,  kindness,  honor, 
truthfulness,  cleanliness,  cheerfulness,  honesty,  respect  for  self- 
and  for  others,  helpfulness,  industry,  economy,  power  of  initiative, 
justice,  usefulness,  patriotism,  courage,  self-control,  prudence, 
benevolence,  system,  neatness,  politeness,  fortitude,  heroism,  per- 
severance, sympathy,  consecration  to  duty,  unselfishness,  comrade- 
ship, patience,  temperance,  hopefulness,  determination,  and  fi- 
delity. Pupils  should  not  only  have  some  idea  of  the  meaning  of 
these  virtues,  but  they  should  be  trained  in  the  practice  of  them 
until  they  become  fixed  habits. 

According  to  this  widespread  conception,  the  task  is  to 
give  information  concerning  the  abstract  virtues  and  to 
drill  the  pupils  in  action  that  involves  them.  They  are 
assumed  always  to  be  virtues.  This,  however,  is  far  from 
being  the  case.  Take,  for  example,  perseverance.  This  may 
characterize  the  conduct  of  a  statesman,  burglar,  mechanic, 
farmer,  housewife,  political  grafter,  assassin,  or  anybody 
else  engaged  in  any  kind  of  action  good  or  bad.  Clearly  this 
abstract  aspect  of  human  action  is  not  a  virtue  in  itself. 
Quite  true,  where  it  is  exercised  in  right  directions  it  pro- 
duces increased  human  good  and  is  then  an  aspect  of  virtu- 
ous conduct.  It  is  equally  true,  however,  that  where  it  is 
exercised  in  wrong  directions  it  may  produce  the  most 
disastrous  human  results;  and  is  then  an  aspect  of  vicious 
conduct.  Obviously  the  virtue  or  the  vice  is  not  in  the  per- 
severance itself. 

It  is  urged  that  while  the  perseverance  itself  is  always  a 
virtue,  it  may  be  a  virtue  of  either  good  or  bad  conduct. 
This  is  but  a  verbal  quibble.  Perseverance  may  be  a  char- 
acteristic  of  either  good  or  bad  conduct.  But  its  character- 
izing bad  conduct  does  not  make  the  latter  good;  it  only 
makes  it  worse.  And  what  increases  evil  is  evil  at  the  time. 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  165 

It,  DOW,  we  look  at  obedience,  courage,  industry,  loyalty, 
and  most  of  the  others,  we  can  see  that  they  may  be 
characteristics  of  conduct  within  any  kind  of  social  group. 
They  are  sometimes  characteristics  of  virtuous  conduct; 
and  sometimes  of  vicious. 

Obviously  these  so-called  "virtues"  are  not  the  moral 
jltimates.  They  are  but  aspects  of  human  conduct  which 
must  be  judged  good  or  bad  on  quite  other  standards.  Good 
moral  conduct  is  that  which  increases  the  total  sum  of 
human  welfare.  The  more  efficacious  it  is  in  producing 
beneficent  results,  the  higher  is  the  type  of  morality.  It 
springs  from  an  intelligence  that  discerns  equally  the  fEmgs 
which  promote  human  welfare  and  the  things  that  are 
injurious.  It  is  rooted  in  large-group  syinpathies,  love  of 
human-kind,  large-group  vision,  attitudes,  valuations,  and 
tendencies  to  behavior.  Whatever  will  produce  and  inten- 
sify large-group  consciousness  and  expand  social  intelli- 
gence wiU  develop  high  moral  character. 

Bad  moral  conduct  is  that  which  increases  the  total  sum 
of  human  woe.  One  of  its  basic  conditions  is  an  ignorance 
of  the  things  required  for  human  welfare.  A  second  is  small- 
group  consciousness.  Members  of  small  groups  hold  to  the 
dual  standard  of  conduct.  Virtuous  action  for  them  is  that 
which  promotes  welfare  of  their  httle  group  through  (1)  the 
exercise  of  the  social  virtues  toward  each  other,  and  (2)  the 
exercise  of  the  anti-social  virtues  toward  society  in  general. 
Since  such  action  tends  usually  to  be  parasitic  rather  than 
efficiently  productive,  they  force  others  not  only  to  carry 
/their  own  share  of  the  total  load,  but  also  the  share  that 
should  be  properly  borne  by  the  parasitic  group.  Their 
actioti  resultfe  in  social  injury  in  the  degree  in  which  they 
are  actually  parasitic;  and  in  the  degree  in  which  they  em- 
ploy anti-social  action  in  effecting  their  parasitism.  The 
problem  of  education  is  to  develop  within  them  the  large- 


166  THE  CURRICULUM 

group  consciousness,  valuations,  and  sympathies;  and  a 
clear  intellectual  appreciation  of  the  forces  and  influences 
that  are  to  be  controlled  in  the  interests  of  all.  The  problem 
of  moral  education  is  not  to  develop  within  them  the  vanous 
virtues  of  industry,  obedience,  courage,  loyalty,  etc.  These 
exist  within  those  possessing  small-group  consciousness  as 
abundantly  as  in  those  having  the  large-group  conscious- 
ness. Simply  they  are  wrongly  directed.  The  central  train- 
ing task  is  a  transformation  of  their  group-consciousness. 

Quite  clearly  the  central  problem  of  moral  education  is 
identical  with  that  of  civic  education.  The  humanizing  and 
socializing  training  discussed  in  various  chapters,  in  so  far 
as  it  can  be  made  to  promote  width  of  social  vision,  and 
breadth  and  intensity  of  social  sympathies,  will  provide  the 
taproot  of  morality.  And  there  can  be  no  substitute  that 
will  accomplish  this  training.  It  is  not  done  by  giving  infor- 
mation about  the  virtues,  as  in  ethics;  not  even  by  drilling 
in  the  practice  of  the  specific  virtues.  It  grows  from  deeper 
roots.  And  it  must  grow;  not  be  grafted. 

If  the  foregoing  statements  are  true,  why  is  there  so  much 
insistence  upon  religion  as  the  necessary  sanction  and  suj>- 
port  of  morality.'^  In  reply  we  must  say  that  it  is  because 
j  religion  is  the  taproot  of  morality.  The  religious  vision  is 
i  but  a  further  widening  of  the  large-group  civic  vision.  The 
religious  sympathies  are  but  further  widening  of  the  social 
sympathies.  We  are  not  to  stop  with  a  mere  present-day 
planetary  consciousness.  We  are  to  go  on  to  that  wider 
cosmic  consciousness. of  man  as  a  member  of  a  universal 
order  that  is  not  limited  in  time  or  space.  It  is  to  conceive 
one's  membership  within  an  order  that  includes  all  things 
that  are,  and  all  beings  that  are.  It  is  to  see  one's  self  as  a 
member  of  a  social  group  that  is  not  only  as  wide  as  the 
municipal  or  national  or  world-group  of  to-day,  but  which 
is  also  wide  enough  to  include  the  members  of  the  genera- 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  167 

tions  that  have  preceded  us,  and  those  that  are  to  come  after; 
and  which  includes  all  benevolent  and  beneficent  non- 
earthly  beings  so  far  as  we  can  know  of  them  or  reasonably 
conceive  them.  Individuals  differ  as  to  many  things  that 
lie  beyond  the  realm  of  sense;  but  the  essentially  religious- 
minded  seem  to  agree  upon  the  central  conception  as  here 
stated.  What  social  science  calls  interdependency,  coopera- 
tion, community  of  origin,  and  group-consciousness,  reli- 
gion calls  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

It  is  often  said  that  our  public  schools  cannot  train  for 
religious  thought  and  springs  of  action.  If  what  we  are 
saying  is  true,  the  highest  function  of  our  public  schools  is 
the  development  of  the  social  attitudes  and  valuations  and 
knowledge  that  are  equally  central  in  conceptions  of  social 
interdependency  and  of  human  brotherhood.  Naturally  in 
our  schools  we  shall  hold  to  the  terminology  of  social  science; 
to  the  non-controversial  and  therefore  fundamental  portion 
of  the  field.  This  is  not  to  attempt  the  whole;  but  it  is  to 
assist  in  laying  the  solid  foundation  for  the  whole;  without 
which  little  else  worth  while  can  be  done.  The  churches 
need  such  solid  ground  as  the  starting-point  for  the  exten- 
sions that  they  would  rear  into  the  infinite. 


PART  IV 
EDUCATION  FOR  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY 


CHAPTER  XIV  -^^^ 

THE  FUNDAMENTAL  TASK  OF  PHYSICAL  TRAINING 

The  human  organism  may  be  conceived  as  a  reservoir  of 
energy,  which  is  continually  emptying  itself  through  various 
channels  of  expenditure,  and  which  is  being  continually 
refilled  through  other  channels  of  inflow.  The  analogy  is  an 
old  one,  used  by  Descartes;  but  in  the  light  of  modem 
science  there  is  none  more  exact  nor  more  fruitful. 

The  outflow  of  energy  is  through  many  channels,  accom- 
plishing many  types  of  result.  One  portion  is  consumed  in 
the  production  of  bodily  heat;  another  in  secretion  and  the 
involuntary  muscular  actions  of  respipation,  digestion,  cir- 
culation, etc.;  a  third  portion  is  consumed  in  the  elimination 
and  neutrahzation  of  poisons  generated  in  the  system;  a 
large  amount,  in  voluntary  activity;  and  finally,  there  is  the 
portion  that  flows  out  through  the  nerve-channels  under- 
lying thought  and  feeling  and  emotional  excitement.  The 
expenditure  is  unceasing;  but  in  amount  it  varies  according 
to  conditions  of  temperature,  of  work  and  play,  etc.  One's 
waking  hours  constitute  mainly  a  season  of  outflow. 

The  inflow  of  energy  is  through  the  channels  of  nutri- 
tion. The  process  is  continuous,  occurring  at  all  times,  but 
proceeding  unequally.  The  chief  season  of  inflow  is  during 
the  hours  of  sleep.  Without  this  restoration  of  supply,  the 
level  of  the  reservoir  is  rapidly  lowered. 

In  an  individual  of  invariably  robust  health,  living  under 
normal  conditions,  the  level  of  the  reservoir  is  high,  —  in 
the  neighborhood  of  one  hundred  per  cent  of  potential. 
The  daily  income  of  energy  just  about  equals  the  daily  out- 
go.  If  he  is  doing  light  work  with  light  expenditure,  the  in- 


172 


THE  CURRICULUM 


flow  will  be  light.  If  the  daily  expenditure  is  heavy,  —  but 
not  abnormally  so,  —  the  return  inflow  is  correspondingly 
abundant.  Thus,  barring  accident,  he  may  go  through  life 
near  one  hundred  per  cent  physically  eflSicient.  His  condi- 
tion in  this  respect  may  be  roughly  represented  by  A  in  the 
accompanying  figure. 


100^ 


Fig.  3.  To  represent  different  possible  levels  in  the  reservoir  of  one's  vitality 

If,  however,  the  daily  expenditure  through  channels  of 
work,  play,  worry,  struggle  with  body-poisons,  mental  ex- 
citement, etc.,  is  greater  than  the  daily  income,  the  level 
is  lowered.  His  energy-supply  may  come  to  be  such  as  rep- 
resented by  B  or  C  in  the  figure.  The  level  of  his  vitality 
may  stand  at  seventy  per  cent  or  fifty  per  cent  of  potential 
instead  of  at  the  normal  one  hundred  per  cent.  The  lower 
the  level,  the  nearer  he  approaches  the  danger  Hne, 

An  equilibrium  may  be  established  at  one  of  these  lower 
levels.  Daily  income  and  daily  outgo  may  again  be  equal. 
In  this  case,  the  level  of  vitality  does  not  sink  lower; 
neither  does  it  rise.  Such  a  devitalized  individual  may  go 
through  life  with  his  vital  reserves  at  fifty  per  cent  of  what 
they  ought  to  be.  The  original  causes  of  the  lowered  vitality 
may  continue,  physiological  habits  may  become  established, 
and  the  individual  is  held  down  permanently.   If,  however. 


TASK  OF  PHYSICAL  TRAINING  173 

he  can  discover  and  remove  the  original  causes,  and  care- 
fully regulate  income  and  expenditures,  he  may  —  usually 
slowly,  if  habits  have  been  formed  —  raise  the  level  of  his 
reserve  vitality  again  to  something  near  its  old  level. 

Relation  to  vocational  efficiency 

It  makes  a  large  difference  whether  the  level  of  vitality 
is  maintained  at  fifty  per  cent  of  potential,  or  at  one  hun- 
dred per  cent.  The  vocational  demand  for  efficiency  when 
reduced  to  specifics  is  a  demand  for  forcefulness,  for  ac- 
curacy, for  speed,  for  endurance,  and  for  consistency  or 
uniformity  of  good  work.  And  these  are  all  fruits  of  a  full 
vitality.  While  the  nervous,  under-vitalized  individual  may 
present  a  great  show  of  energy  and  may  in  fact  put  forth 
large  effort  for  a  short  time,  he  cannot  be  consistently  force- 
ful, day  after  day,  and  month  after  month.  He  lacks  re- 
siliency. When  expenditure  is  large,  it  is  not  restored  suffi- 
ciently rapidly.  The  daily  oscillation  must  not  be  large,  if  he 
is  to  be  consistent.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fully  vitalized 
individual  may  make  large  effort  and  large  expenditure  day 
after  day  over  long  periods  of  time.  The  return  surge  is 
equally  prompt  and  vigorous.  Even  after  strenuous  exer- 
tion, each  new  day  finds  the  level  of  the  reservoir  at  its 
previous  high  level.  With  him  the  daily  oscillation  may  be 
wide.  He  alone  is  prepared  for  forcefulness,  endurance,  speed, 
and  consistency  of  work.  He  also  is  accurate.  His  nerves 
are  sound,  his  movements  under  secure  control,  his  inhi- 
bitions prompt  and  certain.  The  devitahzed  individual  is 
nervous,  incoordinated,  uncertain  in  his  movements  and 
inhibitions.  The  range  of  his  mental  life  is  narrowed.  He 
does  not  see  so  many  things  at  one  time,  and  his  failure  to 
observe  all  of  the  things  related  to  his  work  involves  him  in 
mistakes  and  accidents.  He  is  the  type  of  man  that  indus- 
try nowadays  is  trying  to  eliminate. 


174  THE  CURRICULUM 

There  is  the  further  need  of  joy  in  one's  work.  The  force- 
ful, well-poised  individual  does  his  work  with  ease,  with  con- 
fidence, with  accuracy;  and  without  taxing  himself,  obtains 
the  results  that  he  desires.  He  does  not  *'live  upon  his 
nerves."  He  does  not  drive  himself  to  his  work.  He  is  not 
in  that  state  of  nervous  irritability  which  makes  steadiness 
and  accuracy  so  constraining  as  to  be  maddening. 

Training  for  a  high  level  of  physical  vitality  is  thus  one 
of  the  most  fundamental  aspects  of  training  for  vocational 
efficiency. 

Relation  to  morality 

The  physical  condition  of  an  individual  or  of  a  nation  is 
intimately  related  to  the  moral  and  civic  character.  On  the 
positive  side,  morality  in  our  complicated  age  is  rooted  in 
width  and  clearness  of  vision  of  human  affairs  in  community, 
nation,  and  world;  and  in  permanent  sympathetic  attitudes 
toward  all  individuals  and  social  groups;  and  in  the  dispo- 
sition so  to  act  as  to  promote  without  mistake  or  accident 
the  general  welfare.  On  the  negative  side,  morality  consists 
of  inhibitions  which  restrain  tendencies  to  anti-social  or 
other  injurious  conduct. 

The  state  of  one's  vitality  is  intimately  related  to  both 
the  positive  and  negative  sides.  Psychologists  tell  us  that 
when  we  examine  a  state  of  momentary  consciousness,  it 
is  found  to  consist  of  two  portions:  the  focal  idea  to  which 
attention  is  being  for  the  moment  given,  and  which  occupies 
the  center  of  consciousness;  and  the  marginal  ideas,  sensa- 
tions, etc.,  many  in  number,  of  which  we  are  at  the  mo- 
ment aware,  but  to  which  we  are  not  giving  attention.  Now 
in  individuals  of  different  degrees  of  vitality,  the  focal  idea 
may  be  about  equally  clear  to  all.  The  difference  is  in  the 
character  of  the  marginal  consciousness.  In  the  man  of 
full  vitaUty,  there  is  a  width  and  richness  of  marginal  life. 


TASK  OF  PHYSICAL  TRAINING  175 

He  holds  manyj|Lings  in  mind  at  once.  Consequently  he  is 
the  man  of  \yiae  mental  horizon,  and  of  far  vision.  Since 
the  subtler  and  more  complicated  social  relations  are  those 
that  involve  seeing  many  things  at  once  and  in  wide  per- 
spective, he  alone  is  in  a  position  cleariy  to  see  and  appre- 
ciate the  existing  social  relations  and  demands  in  our 
modem  society.  Seeing  the  relations,  he  is  in  a  position  to 
act  wisely  and  justly  and  for  the  best  interests  of  all  con- 
cerned.  He  is  morally  responsible. 

In  the  case  of  the  semi-vitalized  individual  the  marginal 
life  is  much  narrowed.  He  holds  fewer  things  in  mind  at  once; 
and  therefore  less  adequately  sees  the  relations;  especially 
the  subtle  compHcated  ones.  These  he  must  see  if  he  is  to 
visuahze  modem  society,  his  place  therein,  and  his  rights 
and  responsibiUties.  But  his  physical  condition  shuts  out 
much  of  the  needed  vision.  Morally  he  is  but  semi-respon- 
sible. Even  though  he  be  richly  endowed  with  good-will,  he 
cannot  hold  to  action  of  the  highest  moral  type  because  he 
cannot  see  what  it  is. 

For  the  man  of  a  very  low  level  of  vitality,  the  curtains 
are  still  further  drawn.  There  is  little  margin  to  his  con- 
sciousness. His  stream  of  thought  is  Httle  more  than  a  suc- 
cession of  focal  ideas.  He  has  but  little  power  to  hold  the 
many  things  in  mind  at  once  that  are  needed  for  seeing  com- 
plex social  relations.  As  a  consequence,  he  is  morally  in- 
capacitated, irresponsible.  He  misses  the  road  largely  be- 
cause he  cannot  see  where  it  Ues.  He  falls  back  upon  the 
guidance  of  instinct,  passion,  and  other  crude  impulsions. 
He  may  be  entirely  well-meaning,  and  yet  thoroughly 
criminal  in  his  conduct.  His  irresponsibility,  however,  is 
but  a  symptom  of  illness.  Even  if  criminal,  the  treatment 
he  most  needs  is  the  hospital. 

In  the  preceding  discussion  we  have  been  noting  the  posi- 
tive propulsions  to  right  moral  conduct.    There  is  also  the 


176  THE  CURRICULUM 

matter  of  inhibitions.  In  the  man  of  full  vital  reserves,  these 
are  full  and  strong  and  certain  in  their  action.  In  proportion 
as  reserves  are  depleted,  and  the  marginal  life  narrowed,  the 
inhibitions  grow  weak  and  uncertain.  The  same  thoughts 
of  possible  action  may  pass  through  the  minds  of  the  robust 
and  the  devitalized.  Some  of  these  are  anti-social,  and  refer 
to  acts  that  are  undesirable,  or  even  criminal.  In  the  case 
of  the  man  of  full  vitality,  however,  when  the  idea  of  the 
harmful  act  arises,  even  though  prompted  by  strong  instinct, 
the  marginal  ideas  of  the  results  arise  at  the  same  time. 
He  sees  the  undesirability  and  dismisses  it  without  effort. 
With  the  man  of  low  reserves  the  same  idea  may  arise  with 
the  same  degree  of  clearness  and  with  no  greater  instinctive 
propulsion.  But  there  does  not  arise  the  same  wealth  of 
marginal  ideas  as  to  the  consequences.  He  does  not  see 
the  harm  of  it.  He  has  little  or  nothing  to  restrain  him. 
The  anti-social  idea,  therefore,  discharges  itself  into  action, 
and  he  commits  the  criminal  deed.  In  original  nature  and 
training  the  two  men  may  be  of  identical  disposition.  The 
difference  in  their  acts  is  due  simply  to  a  difference  in  the 
levels  of  their  physical  vitahty. 

Needed  Jot  civic  control 

A  state  of  democratic  government  is  one  in  which  each 
individual  is  largely  free  to  shape  his  conduct  according  to 
the  dictates  of  his  best  judgment.  And  yet  the  democracy  of 
to-day  is  such  a  concatenation  of  mutual  interdependencies 
that  if  we  have  both  democracy  and  organization,  the  dic- 
tates of  judgment  on  the  part  of  all  must  largely  be  identical. 
Each  must,  therefore,  see  the  whole  of  the  social  mechan- 
ism, and  his  individual  part  within  the  coordinated  labors  of 
the  whole.  No  other  plan  can  possibly  bring  community  of 
judgment.  But  the  plan  requires  that  the  citizens  have  the 
power  to  hold  a  large  number  of  things  in  mind  at  once  so 


TASK  OF  PHYSICAL  TRAINING  177 

as  to  see  the  innumerable  and  complex  relations.  This  is 
possible  only  to  a  citizenry  of  large  vitality.  A  wise,  vigorous, 
and  beneficent  democracy  on  the  part  of  devitalized  indi- 
viduals is  impossible.  The  uncertainties  of  our  inchoate  and 
wobbly  democracy  are  due,  not  entirely  to  ignorance  and 
small-group  consciousness,  but  in  some  degree  also  to  a  gen- 
eral depletion  of  physical  vitality  with  its  consequent  nerv- 
ous irritability,  narrow  vision,  and  lack  of  inner  restraints. 
There  can  be  little  question  but  that  the  instability  of  demo- 
cratic governments  in  certain  tropical  states  is  partially 
due  —  the  degree  none  can  say  —  to  the  lowered  vitality  of 
a  European  population  in  tropical  countries. 

A  problem  of  first  magnitude  in  training  our  population 
for  efficient  citizenship  is  the  training  at  the  same  time  for 
the  indispensable  basis  of  physical  efficiency. 

Needed  for  leisure  occupations 

In  other  chapters  we  have  tried  to  indicate  the  large  place 
rightly  occupied  in  human  life  by  leisure  occupations.  For 
a  number  of  reasons  we  need  to  develop  appreciations  of 
art,  literature,  music,  science,  philosophy,  and  religion.  We 
feel  that  these  are  necessary  for  a  stable  and  continuing 
form  of  civilization.  But  in  a  world  where  there  are  so  many 
serious  things  to  do,  we  cannot  have  them  unless  there  is 
a  surplus  of  leisure  time  and  Hberated  energy  that  can  be 
used  for  the  purpose.  But  if  physical  efficiency  is  low,  then 
productive  efficiency  is  also  low;  and  there  are  the  further 
wastes  of  time  and  energy  in  correcting  mistakes,  in  fighting, 
and  in  dissipation.  There  is  no  surplus  for  the  humanistic 
activities.  And  further,  things  like  literature,  or  science, 
or  religion,  on  their  high  levels,  are  not  to  be  appreciated 
without  the  richly  irrigating  streams  of  consciousness  char- 
acterized by  the  wide  margins;  the  types  of  those  with  the 
high  physical  reserves.  The  individual  of  narrow  conscious- 


178  THE  CURRICULUM 

ness  can  have  but  restricted  glimpses  of  these  wider  fields; 
fails  to  see  things  in  proportion  and  relation;  finds  them 
meaningless  and  therefore  uninteresting  or  wearisome;  or 
perplexing,  bajffling,  irritating.  He  leaves  them  and  goes  to 
pleasures  of  simpler  and  lower  nature.  A  high  humanistic 
civilization  is  not  to  be  built  on  foundations  of  physical  in- 
validity. 

One  asi>ect  of  humanistic  education  must  be  the  develop- 
ment of  that  degree  of  physical  efficiency  without  which 
such  education  lacks  a  fundamental  condition  of  success. 

Need  for  ^^  keeping  well " 

One's  major  health  ambition  usually  is  to  "keep  well"; 
that  is  to  say,  to  avoid  acute  illness  or  physical  collapse. 
One  can,  however,  keep  well  in  this  negative  sense  with  his 
reserves  of  vitality  at  a  low  level.  Through  regularity  he 
keeps  out  of  the  sick-bed  and  goes  about  his  work.  He  be- 
comes used  to  the  conditions,  physiological  habits  are  formed, 
and  he  does  not  know  that  the  volume  of  his  life  might  be 
doubled.  Standards  of  vitality  are  lacking;  modes  of  meas- 
uring have  not  been  developed  or  applied.  Everybody  else 
is  in  much  the  same  condition.  Neither  industry  nor  citizen- 
ship has  accurately  defined  the  standards  of  physical  effi- 
ciency necessary  for  consistent  success.  One  therefore 
"keeps  well "  upon  a  low  level:  but  is  not  physically  efficient. 

The  result  is  that  he  is  easily  susceptible  to  attacks  of 
acute  diseases,  Hke  colds,  grippe,  bronchitis,  tonsillitis, 
pneumonia,  rheumatism,  and  a  host  of  others.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  man  of  large  physical  reserves,  who  almost  of 
necessity  has  good  physiological  habits,  finds  himself,  bar- 
ring accidents,  practically  immune  from  most  of  these 
troubles,  and  relatively  immune  from  all. 

The  latter  is  equally  fortunate  also  in  his  physiological 
inhibitions.     The  nervous  individual  of   depleted  vitality 


TASK  OF  PHYSICAL  TRAINING  179 

often  presents  a  great  show  of  energy  because  of  the  multi- 
tude of  excess  movements,  of  emotional  excitement,  and 
of  other  needless  wastes  of  energy.  The  man  of  high  reserves, 
however,  tends  to  be  calm,  poised,  direct,  and  accurate.  He 
does  not  waste  himself  in  useless  ways.  He  therefore  re- 
tains himself  upon  his  level  with  greater  ease  than  one  re- 
tains his  position  ujkju  one  of  the  lower  levels. 

And  there  is  also  the  latitude  of  resiliency.  The  man  of 
large  reserves  may,  in  case  of  stress  and  strain,  greatly  in- 
crease his  daily  task  through  weeks  or  months  without  under- 
mining himself.  Though  work  is  unusually  strenuous,  the 
daily  restoration  is  unusually  large.  On  the  lower  level, 
however,  lacking  this  same  resiliency,  a  man  cannot  go  far 
below  his  normal  without  finding  himself  the  prey  of  acute 
illness,  and  of  tedious  recuperation. 

Training,  therefore,  for  the  ideal  of   keeping  well,  if  it  I 
is  to  be  done  at  its  best,  involves  training  for  high  levels  of  ( 
reserve  vitaUty.  It  presents  a  positive  program,  not  a  mere 
negative  one. 


CHAPTER  XV 

PHYSICAL  TRAINING 

Perfect  physical  training  for  child  or  adult  is  that  which 
brings  him  to  the  one  hundred  per  cent  level  of  possible 
vitality  and  which  holds  him  there.  Since  perfection  is 
scarcely  attainable,  education  will  aim  at  the  highest  prac- 
ticable levels.  This  definition  appears  desirable  because  of 
the  frequent  limitation  of  the  term  to  muscular  exercise. 
Naturally  physical  training  must  always  include  a  generous 
amount  of  muscular  exercise;  but  there  are  other  things  just 
as  important,  such  as  proper  sleep,  food  and  food  habits, 
air,  temperatures,  sunlight,  balance  of  all  physical  expendi- 
tures, protection  from  micro-organisms,  the  elimination  of 
wastes,  healthful  mental  states,. etc. 

Physical  training  has  long  been  on  the  school  program. 
One  has,  however,  only  to  glance  over  the  statistics  of 
physical  deficiency  among  school  children,  army  recruits, 
or  the  population  in  general,  to  realize  how  lamentably 
this  physical  training  has  failed  to  accomplish  the  essen- 
tial purposes  of  abundant  vitality  and  freedom  from 
physical  imperfection.  Our  physical  training  has  relatively 
failed  because  it  has  lost  sight  of  most  of  the  vital  factors  for 
such  a  program.  There  has  been  and  still  persists  the  con- 
ception that  education  is  a  classroom  affair;  that  only  what 
can  be  taken  care  of  at  the  school-building  is  to  be  done; 
that  educational  specialists  are  not  to  lead  or  direct  or  be 
otherwise  concerned  with  experiences  which  must  be  had  in 
other  places  within  the  community.  The  present  topic  more 
than  any  other  discussed  in  this  volume  reveals  the  limita- 
tions of  such  primitive  educational  thought  and  practice. 


PHYSICAL  TRAINING  181 

Good  physical  training,  can  result  but  from  one  thing; 
naTJiely yjnghi_Jmrig.  One  must  actively  do  the  things  that 
enhance  vitality  and  actively  avoid  those  that  waste  it. 
Learning  the  facts  of  a  book  will  not  accomplish  it;  nor  good 
recitations;  nor  good  marks  upon  examination.  Nothing 
will  serve  but  right  living  twenty-four  hours  in  the  day, 
seven  days  in  the  week,  and  all  of  the  weeks  in  the  year. 
Naturally  pupils  must  have  preliminary  ideas  as  to  what 
to  do.  These  they  will  secure  from  books,  teachers,  nurses, 
physicians,  physical  trainers  and  personal  observation;  but 
getting  such  ideas  constitutes  only  the  preliminary  step  in 
the  series  of  activities  that  constitute  the  physical  training. 
I  It  is  not  even  the  preliminary  step  unless  there  is  the  con- 
scious intention  on  the  part  of  those  securing  the  ideas  to 
put  them  to  work.  Let  a  student  have  any  quantity  of  ideas 
as  to  what  constitutes  right  living,  if  he  does  not  put  them 
into  operation  they  do  not  acquire  vitality  nor  result  in 
physical  training.  The  curriculum  must  be  living  —  with 
learning  only  one  of  several  steps. 

Since  muscular  exercise  is  the  part  that  has  been  most 
completely  institutionalized,  let  us  begin  with  that.  The 
first  thing  to  be  noted  is  that  it  is  mainly  taken  care  of  in 
the  general  out-of-school  experience.  Pedometers  on  six- 
year-old  boys  not  in  school  have  shown  that  they  travel 
more  than  ten  miles  a  day  in  their  play;  and  the  other  por- 
tions of  their  play  are  probably  the  muscular  equivalent 
of  another  ten  miles.  Since  children  have  four  waking 
hours  per  day  out  of  school  for  every  one  in  school  counting 
all  of  the  days  of  the  year,  if  equally  active  in  the  two 
cases,  they  will  be  getting  four  fifths  of  their  muscular 
experience  outside  of  the  schools.  In  general,  however,  the 
out-of-school  experience  is  the  more  active;  so  that  most  of 
the  developing  experience  is  not  directed  by  teachers. 

There  are  two  general  types  of  training.  One  is  system- 


182  THE  CURRICULUM 

atized  gymnastics,  variously  called  calisthenics,  Swedish 
gymnastics,  German  gymnastics,  etc.  It  is  usually  taken 
indoors.  It  involves  wands,  Indian  clubs,  dumb-bells,  etc. 
Usually  there  is  no  spontaneity  in  the  exercise,  but  it  is  all 
done  at  the  arbitrary  word  of  command.  It  is  not  play 
because  the  children  are  not  actuated  by  the  play-motive 
and  it  is  not  performed  in  the  play-spirit.  So  far  as  it  is 
work  it  is  of  the  unhealthy  taskmaster  type.  The  fear  is 
often  expressed  when  "supervised  play"  is  recommended 
that  the  supervision  will  injure  the  play  by  depriving  it  of 
its  spontaneity.  The  formal  gymnastics,  however,  repre- 
sent a  type  of  systematization  and  supervision  that  has 
been  carried  to  such  an  extreme  that  the  play-spirit  has 
completely  departed,  and  not  even  a  memory  of  it  remains. 
It  is  the  antithesis  of  normal  Uving.  It  therefore  cannot 
adequately  serve  for  education. 

The  other  type  of  physical  training  is  an  institutionaliza- 
tion of  children's  play  which  retains  the  play-spirit.  The 
leaders  of  the  movement  have  been  assembling  a  great 
repertory  of  plays  and  games  for  indoors  and  outdoors,  for 
boys  and  girls,  and  for  all  ages  and  stages  of  development. 
These  include  ball-games,  running-games,  catching-games, 
athletics  for  all,  rhythmic  dances  with  and  without  music, 
folk-games  and  dances,  —  as  pleasurable  as  they  are  effec- 
tive for  training.  They  represent  real  child-Ufe  at  its  best 
transferred  to  the  schools  with  as  little  change  as  practicable. 
It  is  the  type  to  which  schools  are  turning. 

To  these  play-activities  must  be  added  an  increasingly 
active  type  of  general  school  life.  Experiential  education 
is  introducing  more  activities  of  the  laboratory,  the  shop, 
the  kitchen,  the  school  garden,  community  observation  and 
survey,  active  participation  in  practical  community  affairs, 
chorus  singing,  playing  of  musical  instruments,  field  work 
in  the  country,  etc.  In  normalizing  education  in  general, 
excellent  physical  training  is  also  provided  for. 


PHYSICAL  TRAINING  183 

Perhaps  it  should  be  mentioned  that  where  one  is  abnor- 
mal and  is  in  need  of  corrective  orthopedic  exercises,  like 
medicines  for  the  sick,  systematized  gymnastics  may  often 
have  a  legitimate  place.  But  it  has  no  more  place  in  the 
normal  muscular  development  of  normal  children  than  have 
medicines  for  the  well. 

Perhaps  chiefly  because  of  tradition,  teachers  seem  to  pre- 
fer the  formal  gymnastics.  The  writer  had  occasion  to  ask 
a  group  of  elementary  teachers  as  to  the  type  of  physical 
exercises  which  seemed  to  them  most  beneficial  for  their 
pupils.  Out  of  sixty-eight  teachers  who  replied,  forty-eight 
preferred  the  formal  gymnastics;  twenty,  the  plays  and 
games,  especially  when  outdoors.  When  asked  which  type 
the  children  preferred,  they  were  all  agreed  that  the  children 
preferred  the  games.  The  majority  of  the  teachers,  there- 
fore, said  that  in  their  judgment  the  instincts  of  the  children 
placed  there  by  Nature  are  wrong;  that  the  children's  nor- 
mal appetites  in  the  matter  of  physical  exercise  are  unsafe 
guides;  and  that  a  type  of  muscular  experience  so  foreign 
to  human  nature  that  children  never  indulge  in  it  in  their 
spontaneous  play  is  the  thing  needed  for  proper  develop- 
ment of  their  physical  natures.  It  is  safe  to  presume  that 
instincts  are  safe  guides  until  the  contrary  is  proven. 

In  the  elementary  schools,  especially,  the  calisthenics  is 
urged  because  of  the  relief  it  brings  to  pupils  after  an  hour 
or  so  of  concentrated  mental  work.  The  children  need  re- 
laxation of  attention  and  lowering  of  nervous  strains.  The 
need  is  real;  but  the  method  is  not  very  effective.  While 
five  minutes  of  vigorous  exercise  in  a  classroom  with  the 
windows  open  may  be  made  to  serve  the  purpose,  yet  it  is 
certain  that  the  same  amount  of  time  devoted  to  running 
around  the  block  would  be  worth  immeasurably  more.  The 
run  is  a  normal  type  of  exercise.  It  possesses  a  social  aspectl 
and  permits  a  degree  of  spontaneity  lacking  in  the  calis-l 


184  THE  CURRICULUM 

thenics.  It  is  vigorous.  The  slackness  characteristic  of 
calisthenics  is  impossible.  Children  return  with  flushed 
faces,  deep  breathing,  and  circulation  vigorously  irrigating 
the  tissues.  It  gives  ^ them  real  relief  from  concentrated 
attention;  and  real  exercise. 

With  this  compare  the  calisthenics,  where  every  move- 
ment is  at  word  of  command.  To  quote  one  of  the  manuals: 
"  Strict  attention  is  very  essential.  The  commands  must  be 
given  in  a  commanding  spirit,  with  expression  of  voice  such 
as  to  convince  pupils  that  they  must  obey  and  move 
promptly.  The  quality  and  the  value  of  the  exercise  de- 
pends almost  entirely  on  its  execution  at  the  command. 
The  latter  is  the  signal  to  perform  and  must  clearly  indicate 
that  we  expect  accuracy  and  promptness."  In  other  words, 
this  exercise  is  not  intended  to  afford  relief  from  concen- 
trated attention.  Quite  the  reverse,  they  insist  that  atten- 
tion be  absolute. 

And  what  is  more,  relief  is  not  given  through  the  vigor  of 
the  muscular  exercise.  Too  often  it  is  but  a  series  of  formal 
posturings,  perfunctory  and  lifeless.  One  manual  quaintly 
remarks :  "  It  should  be  work  in  the  garments  of  quiet  pleas- 
ure and  tranquil  delight."  But  when  pupils  are  to  be  given 
relief  from  mental  tensions,  the  negative  things  of  quietude 
and  tranquillity  are  not  the  most  effective.  They  need  a 
type  of  exercise  that  will  permit  the  vigorous  discharge  or 
even  explosion  of  pent-up  energies.  But  spontaneous  out- 
bursts of  activity  are  the  last  things  desired  in  the  formal 
gymnastics.  "Pupils  should  stand  still  during  position  and 
while  exercising;  laughing,  smiling,  whispering  are  acts  and 
motions  not  favorable  to  good  work."  They  are  tranquilly 
to  go  through  with  their  posturings  with  the  faces  and  mien 
of  wooden  men.  Those  who  know  children  know  that  their 
iplay  cannot  be  normal,  and  that  they  cannot  obtain  proper 
'relief  from  their  study-tensions  without  laughing,  shouting. 


PHYSICAL  TRAINING  185 

and  running  about  as  whim  impels.  Such  physical-training 
instructions  as  those  quoted  read  Hke  an  educational  fan- 
tasy instead  of  being  things  actually  prescribed  in  many 
systems  of  training  devised  for  the  second  decade  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

A  major  advantage  of  the  play-exercise  is  that  it  can  fix 
habits  for  life.  Adults  in  a  sedentary  age  need  physical 
exercises  as  much  as  children  and  adolescents.  The  training 
should  prepare  them  for  this.  But  adults  in  their  recrea- 
tions refuse  the  taskmaster  and  all  his  ways.  They  will  have 
spontaneity  or  nothing.  If  their  training  has  given  them 
command  over  a  variety  of  sports,  games,  and  athletics, 
and  has  developed  appreciations  and  habits,  they  are  pre- 
pared for  types  of  exercise  that  they  will  gladly  continue. 
But  they  will  not  continue  formal  gymnastics.  Even  though 
it  may  have  accomplished  the  development  of  youth,  it 
fails  to  meet  the  continuing  needs  of  adulthood.  We  are 
prone  to  forget  that  education  is  for  adult  life;  and  that  it 
cannot  be  accomplished  once  for  all  time,  but  must  be  a 
lifelong  continuing  affair. 

Let  us  tuin  now  to  other  factors  concerned  in  any  ade- 
quate program  of  physical  training.  In  bringing  children 
and  youth  as  nearly  as  practicable  to  the  one  hundred  per 
cent  level  of  physical  vitality  and  in  keeping  them  there 
throughout  school-Ufe,  food,  air,  sleep,  etc.,  are  just  as  vital 
as  muscular  exercise.  And  for  the  self-directed  activities  of 
adulthood  for  which  education  is  to  prepare,  proper  food 
habits,  ventilation  habits,  sleep  habits,  etc.,  are  just  as 
important  as  lifelong  habits  of  physical  exercise.  Education 
has  institutionalized  the  factor  which  will  easily  transfer 
to  the  schools.  It  has  not  institutionalized  the  factors  which 
will  not  so  transfer.  Yet  food  violations  and  wrong  food 
habits  are  just  as  frequent  and  deleterious  as  wrong  mus- 
cular habits.   And  there  are  also  violations  in  ventilation. 


186  THE  CURRICULUM 

sleep,  the  elimination  of  wastes,  mental  states,  etc.  The 
physical-training  inefficiency  with  which  education  is  often 
charged  and  which  is  substantiated  by  facts  is  mainly  due 
to  the  woeful  incompleteness  of  its  program. 

Most  of  these  activities  cannot  be  transferred  to  the 
school-buildings.  Food-activities  under  normal  conditions, 
except  possibly  for  the  noonday  luncheon  in  high  schools, 
will  not  and  ought  not  to  be  transferred.  Sleep-activities 
will  not  transfer  in  any  degree.  Ventilation-activities  must 
be  taken  care  of  fully  at  the  school  plant,  —  and  this  should 
be  done  by  pupils  for  the  sake  of  their  training,  —  diu-ing 
the  hours  of  their  presence  there;  but  it  is  to  be  taken  care 
of  elsewhere  during  their  out-of-school  hours.  Experience 
in  protection  from  micro-organisms  can  be  had  at  the  school 
during  school  hours,  but  it  is  an  experience  that  is  to  con- 
tinue during  the  rest  of  the  twenty-four  hours  at  home  and 
throughout  the  general  community.  The  regulation  of  tem- 
perature by  means  of  clothing  and  the  heating  of  rooms  can 
be  only  partially  transferred  to  the  school,  the  major  por- 
tion of  the  experience  taking  place  outside.  The  experiences 
involved  in  the  elimination  of  wastes  and  in  bodily  cleanli- 
ness are  only  partially  transferable;  the  training  should 
mainly  be  the  general  living  experience. 

In  some  things,  as,  for  example,  the  bath  for  cleanliness, 
there  is  occasional  tendency  in  congested  poverty  sections 
of  our  cities  to  introduce  at  the  schools  bathing  opportuni- 
ties actually  needed  in  the  homes,  but  which  are  not  to  be 
found  there.  This  is  in  obedience  to  the  educational  prin- 
ciple that  where  community  experience  is  seriously  inferior, 
substitutionary  opportunity  should  be  provided  at  the 
schools.  Under  present  conditions,  therefore,  we  shall  occa- 
sionally institutionalize  types  of  experience  which  normally 
ought  to  be  taken  care  of  in  the  homes.  This  should  be  but 
a  temporary  educational  expedient  to  be  dispensed  with  as 


PHYSICAL  TRAINING  187 

quickly  as  improved  community  conditions  will  permit.  In 
introducing  substitutionary  opportunities,  the  schools  are 
conscious  agents  of  community  progress.  In  proportion  as 
they  are  successful,  they  reduce  their  portion  of  the  task 
and  turn  it  back  where  it  belongs. 

We  appear  here  to  be  confronted  with  a  startling  addition 
to  our  professional  responsibilities.  Progressive  school  sys- 
tems, however,  have  for  some  time  been  working  on  the 
program.  The  first  step  is  the  accurate  determination  by 
physicians,  school  nurses,  and  physical  trainers  of  the 
physical  condition  and  habits  of  each  pupil;  to  find  wherein 
his  physique  and  habits  are  already  good,  and  training  not 
required;  but  more  particularly  wherein  he  is  physically 
deficient,  and  given  to  wrong  habits.  The  training  problem 
is  to  make  him  and  his  parents  conscious  of  his  shortcom- 
ings; to  give  him  the  information  needed  for  self -guidance; 
to  assist  him  in  the  antecedent  planning  for  the  right  activi- 
ties; to  encourage  and  stimulate  and  see  that  the  oppor- 
tunities are  provided  in  the  homes  and  the  community.  The 
pupils  are  then  to  be  trained  through  self -directed  but  super- 
vised experience  in  putting  their  ideas  to  work. 

Full  and  right  performance  of  these  activities  on  the  part 
of  the  children  requires  the  example  and  leadership  of  the 
adult  generation:  parents,  associates,  teachers,  mu*ses,  and 
physical  trainers.  These  specialists  need  to  be  as  fully  in 
contact  with  the  community  experience  of  the  children  as 
they  are  in  contact  with  the  school  portion.  Educationists 
can  no  more  perform  their  services  long-range  than  can 
physicians  or  farmers  or  blacksmiths.  They  must  be  in 
contact  with  the  material  which  is  being  shaped  during  the 
time  of  its  shaping.  Naturally  this  statement  must  be  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  both  teachers  and  chil- 
dren have  memories;  and  that  this  p>ermits  influences  to  be 
continuous  without  continuity  of  contacts. 


188  THE  CURRICULUM 

The  program  requires  that  teachers  and  other  trainers  of 
youth  be  primarily  members  of  the  adult  community,  asso- 
ciated with  the  parents  and  leaders  of  that  community.  It 
is  to  get  them  out  of  the  schoolroom  into  the  larger  life  of 
affairs.  It  is  to  give  their  schoolroom  labor  its  proper  place 
in  the  total  scheme  of  community  ajffairs.  It  is  to  bring 
them  to  see  education  as  living;  and  to  see  learning  in  its  true 
relation  to  living.  It  is  to  make  men  and  women  of  a  pro- 
fession that  has  all  too  often  been  dwarfed  through  living 
primarily  within  a  child-world.  Those  who  are  to  lead  chil- 
dren to  the  high  levels  of  adult  performance,  who  are  to 
confer  the  wide  outlook  of  the  adult  world  upon  the  new 
generation,  are  to  be  those  whose  associations  are  primarily 
with  the  mature  members  of  the  community;  and  whose 
outlook  and  valuations  thus  remain  those  of  the  adult  world. 
Naturally  teachers  long  accustomed  to  the  easy  grooves  of 
academic  tradition  and  the  cloistral  isolation  in  which  they 
have  been  spared  from  grappling  with  the  knotty  problems 
of  the  full-grown  world  will  be  fearful  of  any  such  emanci- 
pation and  increase  of  responsibilities.  But  the  present  is 
an  age  of  swift  change.  We  emerge  into  a  new  and  human- 
istic world.  Our  profession  is  being  called  upon  to  bear  a 
large  responsibility  in  making  the  adjustments.  Along  with 
all  the  world,  as  fully  and  perhaps  more  so,  our  profession 
must  readjust  its  ideas  and  its  practices.  The  things  are 
not  to  be  feared;  but  welcomed.  It  is  the  new  day  of  our 
professional  opportunity. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY 

In  an  age  of  multiple  interdependencies  and  contacts,  one 
cannot  alone  determine  the  conditions  upon  which  physical 
welfare  depends.  These  are  determined  by  the  social  whole. 
His  food-supply,  for  example,  comes  to  him  from  a  thousand 
hands  and  through  a  thousand  channels.  Properly  to  serve 
its  purposes  it  must  be  genuine,  not  an  adulteration  or  imi- 
tation. To  be  pure  and  wholesome,  both  sources  and  chan- 
nels of  transit  must  be  uncontaminated.  Care  of  the  food- 
supply  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  personal  hygiene;  but  a 
coop>erative  task  of  the  entire  community.  For  this,  social 
training  with  definite  objectives  is  imperative. 

There  is  the  same  dependence  of  each  upon  all  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  water  supply;  sewage  disposal;  the  ventila- 
tion of  street  and  railway  cars  and  public  buildings;  the 
provision  of  pure  air  in  cities,  not  contaminated  by  excess 
smoke,  dust,  and  gases;  the  prevention  and  destruction  of 
harmful  micro-organisms;  the  prevention  of  flies,  mosqui- 
toes, and  other  carriers  of  disease;  protection  against  acci- 
dents in  factories,  mines,  non-fireproof  buildings,  and  street 
traffic;  the  hours  and  sanitary  conditions  of  labor;  provision 
of  community  play-facilities;  elimination  of  noises;  the  social 
control  of  the  liquor,  drug,  and  proprietary-medicine  traffic; 
the  sanitation  of  schools,  hotels,  restaurants,  stores,  thea- 
ters, churches,  hospitals,  jails,  public  institutions;  arrang- 
ing right  community  relations  with  the  medical  profession; 
the  suppression  of  public  nuisances;  the  promotion  of  the 
social,  economic,  and  political  relationships  that  are  condu- 
cive to  mental  serenity;  adequate  support  of  the  health 


190  THE  CURRICULUM 

department;  the  gathering,  presentation,  and  use  of  health 
facts;  the  elimination  of  poverty  as  a  potent,  widely  ramify- 
ing cause  of  physical  invalidity;  setting  up  of  standards  of 
living  which  recognize  the  physical-efficiency  factor;  and 
finally,  the  general  diffusion  of  the  knowledge,  attitudes, 
and  valuations  needed  for  the  cooperative  performance  of 
these  things. 

The  training  is  to  be  for  practical  performance.  It  is 
therefore  to  use  the  technique  of  training  upon  the  work- 
level,  in  which  training  for  action  is  to  be  accomplished 
through  action;  in  which  knowledge,  habits,  and  valuations 
are  to  guide,  impel,  and  facilitate  right  action. 

It  is  difficult  to  arrange  for  practical  training  except  in 
the  Great  School  of  community  affairs.  Pupils  must,  there- 
fore, under  the  guidance  of  teachers  mingle  with  the  adult 
world  in  their  performance  of  the  cooperative  activities. 
They  will  look  on;  serve  as  helpers;  in  places  bear  a  little 
responsibility;  in  other  places,  larger  responsibility;  and 
they  will  talk  with  those  performing  the  responsible  labors. 
They  will  also  look  out  upon  a  wider  world  of  health  rela- 
tionships through  varied  reading;  and  discuss  the  problems 
in  their  classes  in  health-science  and  civics,  and  with  school 
physicians,  nurses,  and  physical-training  directors.  Along 
with  these  they  will  antecedently  plan;  and  with  the  stimu- 
lation of  the  adult  leadership,  they  will  perform  the  part 
that  can  legitimately  be  given  to  youth  for  their  social 
education. 

Cooperative  provision  of  play-facilities 

We  can  best  explain  by  illustration.  Let  us  take  first  the 
cooj>erative  task  of  providing  and  maintaining  adequate 
physical  play-facilities  for  children  and  adults.  One's  first 
reaction  is  that  this  task  does  not  require  training.  All  that 
adults  have  to  do  is  to  vote  the  money  and  have  their  offi- 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY    191 

cials  purchase  and  maintain  the  facilities.  This  is  true.  But 
it  is  like  saying  that  one  does  not  have  to  be  trained  for 
spelling  because  it  is  only  the  simple  task  of  putting  the 
letters  in  the  right  order.  However  simple  this  task,  men 
cannot  do  it  until  they  value  it,  want  to  do  it,  and  know  the 
right  order  of  the  letters;  and  all  admit  that  these  require 
training.  Now,  voting  money  for  sufl5cient  purchases  and 
for  adequate  maintenance,  delegating  the  authority  wisely, 
and  holding  agents  responsible  for  effective  service,  —  these 
more  complex  things  require  that  men  value  physical  play 
for  themselves  and  for  their  children,  that  they  want  it, 
and  that  they  know  how  to  get  .the  things  done  with  cer- 
tainty, effectiveness,  and  economy.  They  need  training 
first,  for  valuations,  appreciations,  attitudes  of  mind;  and 
second,  for  knowledge  of  means  and  processes.  Of  the  two 
the  first  is  the  more  vital.  It  is  prerequisite  to  the  second. 
It  requires  that  men  know  play  in  its  essences;  know  the 
soul  of  play  through  having  long  experienced  it.  It  requires 
also  that  education  aim  definitely  at  something  deep>er  than 
knowledge  —  an  unaccustomed  task.  With  the  soil  thus 
prepared,  the  knowledge  factor  can  be  taken  care  of  with 
ease. 

The  valuations  can  be  developed  only  where  children  and 
adolescents  have  an  opportunity  to  live  the  necessary  play- 
experiences  —  tennis,  baseball,  skating,  basket-ball,  foot- 
ball, running-games,  folk-games,  and  dances,  and  all  the 
rest  — for  all  of  the  pupils.  To  read  books  about  the  topic, 
to  present  reports  in  class,  and  to  listen  to  talks  by  the 
teacher,  however  fervent,  is  not  to  know  play  in  its  essences, 
not  to  arrive  at  the  valuations;  and  therefore  never  to  attain 
these  ends  of  the  training. 

But  participation  alone  is  not  enough  for  the  social  valu- 
ations. The  experiences  of  any  individual  are  limited  and 
partial.   He  needs  also  to  observe  widely;  and  to  read  for 


192  THE  CURRICULUM 

width  of  social  vision.  In  this  way  he  should  view  the  recre- 
ational life  not  only  of  his  own  region,  but  usually  indirectly 
that  of  various  cities  and  regions  of  our  country,  and  of 
other  lands  and  ages.  One  does  not  realize  the  fundamental 
place  of  play  in  human  affairs  until  one  observes  the  large 
place  that  it  has  always  occupied  and  still  occupies  in  the 
lives  of  peoples  over  the  entire  earth.  Pupils  need,  there- 
fore, to  read  an  adequate  history  of  human  recreation 
which  will  reveal  concretely  the  large  place  of  physical  (and 
at  the  same  time  usually  social)  play  among  primitive 
peoples  both  ancient  and  recent;  to  read  the  history  of  play 
in  Greece,  Rome,  Persia,  mediaeval  Europe,  Spain,  England, 
Germany,  Japan,  America,  etc.  In  each  case  the  chapter 
dealing  with  recent  history  should  be  full. 

As  the  participation,  observations,  and  readings  develop 
valuations,  it  is  easy  to  introduce  the  knowledge  aspects: 
the  physiology  of  play,  the  simple  concrete  psychology,  and 
the  social  and  economic  aspects. 

The  cooperative  fight  on  disease 

A  second  cooperative  task  requiring  practical  social  train- 
ing relates  to  the  prevention  or  limitation  of  diseases.  This 
problem  is  considera'bly  more  difficult  for  education.  There 
is  not  the  same  strength  of  propelling  instinct.  The  tasks, 
therefore,  are  less  congenial.  The  problem  is  rendered  more 
difficult  since  pupils  are  iiot  often  to  be  brought  into  direct 
contact  with  diseases  and  disease-producing  conditions  be- 
cause of  the  dangers.  In  the  vocational  or  civic  education, 
one  aims  to  bring  children  into  as  vital  contact  with  the 
realities  as  possible;  but  here  the  demands  of  the  usual  peda- 
gogy are  reversed  by  the  conditions.  Pupils  come  to  appre- 
ciate work  by  working,  and  play  by  playing;  but  we  do  not 
think  they  should  become  acquainted  with  the  nature  of 
disease  through  having  the  diseases.    This  brings  forward 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY    193 

the  educational  problem  of  how  to  develop  understand- 
ing without  the  direct  experiences.  As  in  history  or  foreign 
geography,  it  is  simply  to  fall  back  upon  the  indirect  experi- 
ence of  concrete  reading  and  lectures,  making  these  full  and 
vivid  enough  to  serve  in  lieu  of  direct  experiences.  It  is  to 
use  the  language-avenue  of  contact  with  essential  realities 
when  the  direct  avenue  of  sense-contact  is  barred  by  dis- 
tance or  lapse  of  time  or  danger. 

The  reading  should  be  largely  historical.  This  can  reveal 
the  nature,  seriousness,  and  gigantic  proportions  of  the 
human  struggle  with  disease  and  disease-producing  condi- 
tions.   To  illustrate,  the  accompanying  Figure  4  shows 


Fig.  4.  Death-rate  from  pulmonary  tuberculosis  in  England  and  Wales 
per  10,000  population,  1838-1894. 


graphically  the  mortality  in  England  from  pulmonary  tuber- 
culosis from  1838  to  1894.  The  amount  was  great  at  the 
beginning  of  the  period;  at  the  end,  much  diminished.  The 
decline  shows  a  winning  fight;  and  suggests  the  possibility 
of  making  further  gains. 


194  THE  CURRICULUM 

Along  with  the  chart  there  should  be  concrete  vivid  read- 
ing which  reveals  the  action  of  the  factors  concerned  in  the 
struggle.  The  story  should  present  biographical  materials 
from  the  lives  of  men  and  women  who  were  leaders  in  the 
movement.  These  should  show  the  nature  of  the  things 
upon  which  attacks  were  made,  the  modes  of  attack,  and  the 
degrees  of  success.  The  story  should  reveal  the  attack  upon 
bad  housing  conditions,  uncleanliness,  bad  ventilation,  and 
the  lack  of  sunlight;  the  rise  in  the  general  standard  of  liv- 
ing; the  changes  in  wage-standards  that  permitted  better 
sanitation  and  higher  standards  of  living;  improvements  in 
the  care  of  the  milk-supply;  improved  methods  of  treatment; 
segregation  of  the  sick;  improvements  in  the  general  sani- 
tation of  cities;  and  the  labors  of  local  and  general  boards 
of  health. 

Similar  charts  and  readings  are  needed  for  showing  the 
progress  of  the  fight  in  other  lands.  These  are  especially 
needed  for  our  own  country  and  for  one's  local  community. 
As  pupils  thus  visualize  the  experiences,  they  come  to  realize 
the  nature  and  seriousness  of  the  struggle,  their  sympathies 
are  awakened,  and  they  are  impelled  toward  active  partici- 
pation. Along  with  the  concrete  readings,  there  should  be 
discussion,  problem-solving,  and  more  general  readings  by 
way  of  generalizing  their  information  as  to  the  factors.  As 
these  social  interests  awake,  —  and  they  must  precede,  — 
it  will  be  possible  to  awaken  interests  in  the  more  technical 
matters  involved  in  the  causation  of  tuberculosis;  the  nature 
of  the  bacilli,  modes  of  transmission,  methods  of  infection, 
physiological  conditions  conducive  to  infection,  physiolog- 
ical and  anatomical  results  of  infection,  etc.  The  tech- 
nical science  can  largely  be  presented  through  reading  and 
the  lectures  of  physicians,  nurses,  and  science  teachers;  and 
through  the  use  of  well-prepared  anatomical  and  bacterio- 
logical charts  and  diagrams.   At  some  point  in  the  course 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY    195 

the  microscope  and  bacteriological  laboratory  will  reveal 
certain  of  the  factors  as  concretely  as  practicable.  Children 
must  be  given  the  concrete  imagery  needed  for  substantiality 
in  their  thinking.  This  is  a  primary  condition  of  sanity  of 
thought  in  this  field. 

Other  social  studies  of  a  comparative  character  for  stu 
dents  of  high  school  and  later  levels  should  reveal  the  geo- 
graphical, occupational,  social,  and  other  distributions  of 
tuberculosis.  The  studies  will  be  largely  statistical  and 
graphical  with  interpretative  discussion  of  causes  and  rela- 
tionships. These  studies  will  reveal  the  differences  in  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  earth;  the  differing  immunities  to  the 
disease  on  the  part  of  different  races;  differences  due  to 
higher  and  lower  standards  of  living;  to  different  occupa- 
tions; and  to  variations  in  any  of  the  other  major  factors. 

If  the  early  levels  of  study  in  this  general  field  are  con- 
crete and  experiential,  it  can  be  made  as  interesting  to  child- 
hood and  youth,  as  any  other.  The  human  interest  in  a 
fight  is  perennial  and  universal.  The  fight  upon  disease  is 
likewise  perennial  and  universal;  a  never-ending  struggle 
with  hostile  forces.  It  is  in  literal  fact  a  more  sanguinary 
conflict  than  any  military  war  ever  waged:  the  major  num- 
ber of  all  human  beings  are  killed  or  seriously  injured  long 
before  their  allotted  years  are  run.  If  the  readings  can  be 
so  drawn  that  one  can  visualize  and  realize  a  struggle  which 
is  so  largely  invisible  to  the  eyes,  it  can  be  given  an  educa- 
tional vitality  hitherto  little  realized. 

Figure  5  shows  in  general  outline  the  history  of  diphtheria 
in  Chicago  from  1875  down  to  1916.  Injection  of  antitoxin 
was  instituted  in  1896.  The  figure  shows  the  fight  to  have 
been  a  winning  one  before  that  time;  but  that  since  then, 
through  the  use  of  this  new  weap>on,  the  battle  is  largely 
won.  Let  young  people  read  a  well-written  history  of  the 
movement  in  this  and  other  cities  and  countries.   Let  them 


196 


THE  CURRICULUM 


>S76 

ma 

i8io  mi 

/(?<?* 

me 

/sse 

1690 

I89i 

/894 

>896 

^96 

C 

/902 

I90i 

/90i 

/90t 

'910 

/9/2 

/9/4 

/9f( 

Z3 

3 

f 

J 

% 

^ 

ff    2' 

^   20 

\^ 

..     € 

k 

K 

N^ 

Iv^ 

^ 

^^ 

^\ 

KV^ 

l^^^ 

i\\^ 

, 

^ 

Mj 

^:^ 

k 

ps\\^\, 

\ 

NV\\ 

i^ 

^\\\ 

\ 

|[^'^ 

^ 

M^ 

K 

^ 

m 

^\w 

^^ 

M 
S 

ft 

S 

s 

\S^^ 

kw. 

^^ 

- 

s 

^ 

Mv 

r 

:^ 

a 

,.,_ 

~^| 

-M 

i 

^ 

. 

\m 

>aW\ 

nNW^^ 

^^'h 

>x\\\^ 

^ 

s 

1 

'^ 

M^ 

^^'iW 

^L 

..^^^m^ 

. 

miMmmMSM'~m 

\\m^^ 

vWSW 

hk^w 

sm^ 

•5<\>>^\\v;i}S«!NN«i»SS\VM 

fi 

s 

glfg 

SSBSSSSSSS5 

Fig.  5.  Deaths  from  diphtheria  per  10,000  population  in  Chicago  from 
1876  to  1916.  (From  the  Bulletin  of  the  Chicago  Department  of  Health 
for  January,  1917.) 


understand  the  physiological  and  bacteriological  causes  and 
conditions.  Let  them  understand  the  technology  of  the  an- 
titoxin. Let  them  have  the  charts  showing  the  historical 
trend,  —  and  with  these  things  before  them  they  cannot 
fail  to  see  the  whole  situation  and  its  factors  in  perspective 
and  with  perfect  sanity.  The  major  cause  of  the  great 
abundance  of  irrational  thinking  in  this  field  is  that  indi- 
viduals have  never  been  supplied  with  the  necessary  mate- 
rials of  thought. 

Not  every  fight  has  been  a  winning  one.  Figure  6  shows 
the  history  of  cancer  in  Chicago  from  1871  to  1910.  It  has 
increased  steadily  and  apparently  irresistibly.  Other  mala- 
dies like  Bright's  disease,  heart  disease,  pneumonia,  etc., 
have  been  increasing  in  the  same  way.  With  them  the 
fight  has  been  a  losing  one.    This  is  the  case  in  our  coun- 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY      197 


fan  /a?4  jBTe  /sra  /s&o  mt  as*  /sse  ms  'sso  /ase  /sh  m^ms  /soo  /soz  m*fSoi/ooe  /919 


Fig.  6.  Deaths  from  cancer  per  10,000  population  from  1872  to  1910. 
(From  Report  of  the  Chicago  Department  of  Health,  1911.) 


try  at  large  and  in  all  civilized  countries.  These  foes  of 
human  welfare  appear  to  be  gaining  an  upper  hand.  In  con- 
nection with  such  matters  as  these,  where  the  fight  is  being 
lost,  it  is  even  more  important  that  there  be  fullness  of 
reading,  fullness  of  direct  observation  so  far  as  practicable, 
and  fullness  of  related  scientific  studies  by  way  of  devel- 
oping an  understanding  and  realization  of  the  causes  and 
conditions  of  these  more  deadly  enemies. 

The  history  to  be  used  is  not  always  that  of  one's  own 
country;  but  rather  that  of  any  country  where  effective 
V^^ork  has  been  done.  Figure  7  shows  the  history  in  graphical 
form  of  smallpox  in  Germany  since  1846.  It  shows  that 
previous  to  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  when  there  was  no 
compulsory  vaccination,  the  average  annual  death-rate  per 
100,000  of  population  was  above  24.  During  the  disorgani- 
zation of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  the  rate  rose  to  262, 


198 


THE  CURRICULUM 


or  more  than  ten  times  the  normal  average.  This  brought 
compulsory  vaccination.  The  result  was  that  the  average 
mortality  from  1875  to  1886  was  only  1.5.   Since  1886  the 


|;ii 

oSSSMS§| 

(0(0(0(0  (0« 
00 

5SSg 

00 

<0 

K   NrxNNrsQ 

jisi 

too 

n 

s 

II 

^ 

oo 

A    J^'i,f,^i4 

46 

II 

R          A  vWn 

/  i^i 

70  ^  -  - : : : : 

"\ 

III 

II 

C' 



C 

90 

|. 

^0 

- 

so 

lollill 

1 

11  II 

III 

!l 

1 

1     III..! 

J !■  1 1 1 

Ifrf 

k 

i 

i 

S 

nisssig 

S^55? 

lirmTTTTTTI 

Fig.  7.  Progress  of  smallpox  in  Prussia  before  and  after  the  enforce- 
ment of  general  vaccination.  Death-rate  per  100,000  population,  1846- 
1886.   Courtesy  of  W.  B.  Saunders  &  Co. 


rate  has  been  less  than  1,  or  less  than  one  twenty-fifth  what 
it  was  during  the  years  previous  to  compulsory  vaccination. 
It  is  possible  to  discuss  the  pros  and  cons  of  vaccination  with 
the  negationists  without  accomplishing  any  great  result. 
This  is  a  normal  mental  phenomenon,  and  not  mere  intel- 
lectual perverseness.  The  individual  negationists  are  not  to 
blame;  but  rather  an  education  that  failed  to  give  them  the 
materials  of  thought.  Let  youths  have  an  adequate  history 
of  smallpox;  comparative  figures  such  as  shown  in  this 
chart;  the  technical  information  relative  to  the  disease;  the 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY     199 

theory  of  the  vaccine,  the  mode  of  preparation,  the  theory 
of  its  action  within  the  human  system,  etc.  Having  this 
information  they  cannot  be  negationists,  even  if  they  wish, 
since  the  conditions  requisite  for  mental  negation  have  been 
removed. 

For  the  entire  health  field,  nothing  is  so  much  needed  as 
incontestable  historical  evidence  as  to  the  past  ravages  of 
diseases,  and  as  to  the  beneficent  effects  of  modern  sanitary 
and  medical  procedure.  It  is  now  a  field  of  much  vague 
and  often  bizarre  thinking.  Let  men  have  the  genuine  ma- 
terials of  thought,  and  they  can  come  to  think  sanely. 

Because  of  past  neglect,  before  leaving  these  topics  we 
wish  a  little  further  to  urge  the  need  of  vivifying  reading.  A 
spectacular  engulfing  of  human  life,  like  a  CoUinwood  School 
or  Iroquois  Theater  fire,  an  Eastland  or  Titanic  disaster, 
under  normal  world-conditions,  catches  our  attention  and 
fills  us  with  horror  for  days  and  weeks.  But  herein  the  city 
of  Chicago  where  these  words  are  written,  to  take  a  near 
illustration,  at  the  present  rate  the  lives  of  12,000  children 
now  in  the  schools  of  the  city  will  be  snuffed  out  unneces- 
sarily before  their  school  days  are  over  because  of  evil  and 
uncorrected  health  conditions.  This  is  the  equivalent  of 
more  than  sixty  CoUinwood  School  fires,  —  and  but  few 
take  notice.  It  is  equivalent  to  twenty  Iroquois  Theater 
fires, — ^-but  not  even  the  city,  much  less  the  Nation,  is 
aroused.  It  is  equivalent  to  six  or  eight  Eastland  or  Titanic 
disasters,  —  and  we  let  it  pass  unheeded.  No  spectacular 
oflicial  investigations  are  begun.  Unlike  the  catastrophic 
engulfing  of  human  life,  although  they  were  small  as  com- 
pared to  this,  it  does  not  fire  legislatures,  city  councils,  and 
school  boards  the  country  over  to  zealous  correction  of 
dangerous  conditions.  The  causes  are  so  omnipresent,  dis- 
ease and  death  so  diffused,  everything  so  undefined,  it  is  so 
distributed  over  the  whole  community,  over  the  entire  year. 


200  THE  CURRICULUM 

it  is  so  much  behind  closed  doors,  the  foe  so  invisible,  the 
fight  so  secret  and  insidious,  and  men  are  so  used  to  it  all, 
that  they  simply  accept  it  as  a  portion  of  the  inescapable 
human  lot.  The  ignorant  are  apathetic  and  their  imagina- 
tions are  dull.  They  lack  the  apperceptive  ideas  for  reali- 
zation of  such  chronic,  non-striking  conditions.  They  lack 
the  imagery  necessary  for  conjuring  up  the  horrors  that  in- 
visibly surround  them.  Fullness  and  vividness  of  reading 
experience  which  effectively  reconstructs  and  reveals  the 
situation,  is  the  remedy  for  such  indifference  to  needless 
suffering  and  premature  destruction. 

Readings  should  present  a  history  of  the  human  struggle 
with  micro-organisms:  the  history  of  the  fight  with  small- 
pox, yellow  fever,  Asiatic  cholera,  bubonic  plague,  typhoid, 
tuberculosis,  diphtheria,  pneumonia,  malaria,  and  the  others 
of  the  list.  It  should  present  a  history  of  city  sanitation,  the 
sanitation  of  dwellings,  schools,  theaters,  street  and  railway 
cars,  etc.  It  should  show  what  history  usually  does  not 
show,  namely,  the  large  place  that  disease  has  played  as  a 
factor  in  human  history,  as  in  the  disappearance  of  the  vir- 
ile Greek  and  Roman  races;  the  obliteration  of  the  Vandal 
Kingdom  in  Africa  and  Italy;  the  disappearance  of  every 
German  army  that  during  the  period  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  descended  into  Italy;  the  disappearance  of  the 
American  Indians  of  North  America,  not  before  the  guns, 
but  before  the  diseases  of  the  white  invaders;  the  retarda- 
tion of  the  civilization  of  the  tropical  regions,  etc.  Pupils 
should  read  vivid  accounts  of  the  history  of  sanitation  in 
Panama  under  both  French  and  Americans;  the  story  of 
Gorgas  in  his  sanitation  of  Cuba  and  in  his  clearing-up  of 
the  typhus  epidemic  in  Serbia;  the  story  of  the  obliteration 
of  Asiatic  cholera  in  the  Philippines;  of  the  fight  of  the  Jap- 
anese upon  disease  before  and  during  the  Russo-Japanese 
War;  and  so  on  through  an  extended  list.  It  is  most  remark- 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY    201 

able  that  the  historians  in  drawing  up  lists  of  influences 
that  have  controlled  the  mutations  of  human  affairs  should, 
except  in  occasional  instances,  have  overlooked  the  funda- 
mental influence  of  this  biological  factor. 

As  a  profession  we  have  not  yet  come  sufficiently  to  value 
reading  as  a  mode  of  experience.  We  have  valued  it  for 
securing  systematized  information  which  can  be  recited 
and  examined  upon.  We  have  not,  however,  sufficiently 
looked  upon  it  as  formative  experience  which  flows  through 
the  consciousness,  leaving  its  effects  in  the  general  mental 
cast,  in  perspective,  in  valuations  and  attitudes,  and  in  a 
rich  background  of  conscious  mental  life.  Most  of  such 
experience  is  forgotten  and  should  be  forgotten  in  the  sense 
that  most  details  are  not  recallable.  Forgetting  is  as  normal 
a  mental  function  as  remembering.  The  human  mind  can 
hold  only  a  limited  quantity  of  menaories  in  recallable  form. 
In  order  that  this  little  be  of  the  right  sort,  it  must  be  the 
residuum  from  a  wealth  of  mostly  forgotten  experience.  This 
residuum  is  largely  a  texture  of  generalizations  from  one's 
concrete  experience  in  which  are  intermingled  concrete 
memories  of  some  of  the  more  striking,  more  frequently 
repeated,  or  more  recent  experiences.  These  remembered 
concretes  are  usually  partially  digested  matters  that  have 
not  yet  lost  their  identity  in  their  assimilation  into  the 
general. 

W^e  are  not  recommending  readings  that  are  to  be  learned 
or  memorized  any  more  than  those  of  the  morning  news- 
paper. If  the  experiences  are  of  the  right  sorts,  if  they  have 
depth  and  warmth  and  emotional  potency,  the  foundation 
will  have  been  laid  for  the  desirable  generalizations.  These 
latter  are  the  things  that  most  need  to  be  remembered;  and 
fortunately  nature  has  provided  for  them  in  the  process  of 
generalization  through  natural  assimilation  of  the  concrete 
details.  They  need  not  be  memorized  after  the  plan  of  the 


202  THE  CURRICULUM 

old-fashioned  textbook  method.  They  are  the  natural  fruits 
of  experience  if  it  can  be  made  normal  and  full.  And  there 
are  also  the  other  fruits  of  this  experience:  right  attitudes 
of  mind,  standards  of  judgment,  valuations,  emotional  sym- 
pathies, dynamic  tendencies  of  the  will,  etc.  These  latter 
are  just  as  important  as  the  intellectual  generalizations. 
They  are,  however,  practically  neglected  in  their  entirety 
where  education  consists  of  textbook  fact-memorization. 

Practical  activities 

What  can  young  people  do  by  way  of  putting  their  social 
health-ideas  to  work,  and  their  attitudes,  valuations,  and 
social  sympathies?  To  begin  with,  there  are  certain  non- 
specialized  labors  related  to  the  public  health  which  they 
can  perform.  They  can  engage  in  anti-fly  campaigns.  They 
can  make  accurate  surveys  of  every  city  block  by  way  of 
locating  and  mapping  every  fly-breeding  spot.  In  places 
where  they  can  have  control,  they  can  eliminate  the  fly- 
breeding  conditions.  They  can  make  effective  public  report 
on  places  where  they  have  no  control.  They  can  continue 
these  processes  until  the  community  is  sufficiently  awakened 
for  cooperative  regulation  of  places  inaccessible  to  the  young 
people.  Within  recent  years  Cleveland  has  shown  what  can 
be  accomplished  where  there  is  zealous  and  enlightened 
leadership.  Along  with  the  activities  referred  to,  pupils 
can  cooperatively  undertake  the  destruction  of  the  flies 
themselves  through  the  placing  of  traps,  fly-paper,  etc.  They 
can  carry  their  surveys  still  further  and  show  upon  another 
map  the  distribution  of  fly-infested  food-supplies  and  fly- 
protected  food-supplies;  upon  a  third,  disease-breeding  places 
to  which  fly  carriers  have  access  and  from  which  they  may 
carry  diseases.  Most  of  the  facts  will  relate  to  things  over 
which  pupils  have  no  power  of  direct  correction.  They  will 
simply  be  gathering  inspectorial  facts  for  the  community. 


SOCIAL  FACTORS  OF  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY    203 

But  this  is  as  practical  a  task  as  the  actual  obliteration 
of  the  harmful  conditions.  It  is  really  more  important  for 
their  civic  education,  since  the  things  which  they  can  them- 
selves do  with  their  own  hands  are  comparatively  few;  but 
the  number  of  things  which  they  are  to  do  cooperatively  on 
the  basis  of  a  general  community  understanding  are  numer- 
ous. The  inspectorial  labors  provide  both  intellectual  and 
social  training  for  these  cooperative  labors. 

To  be  fruitful  for  community  life  or  for  education,  there 
must  be  joint  responsibility  of  adults  and  children  with 
adults  supplying  leadership  and  delegating  responsibility 
to  the  children.  A  child  campaign  alone  is  a  social  abnormal- 
ity, good  neither  for  practical  results  nor  for  education. 

Other  types  of  incompletely  specialized  activities  in  which 
the  students  can  participate  are  anti-mosquito  campaigns, 
city  clean-up  campaigns,  current  thoughtfulness  and  care 
for  the  cleanliness  of  streets,  back  yards,  etc.,  cooperative 
participation  in  the  ventilation  of  public  places,  destruction 
of  vermin  and  pests  of  other  sorts  than  those  enumerated, 
etc.  These  and  others  of  similar  type  can  be  carried  through 
oh  plans  analogous  to  those  described  in  the  case  of  the  anti- 
fly  activities.  Pupils  also  have  an  opportunity  to  cooperate 
practically  with  the  labors  of  specialists  of  many  kinds  as 
these  touch  the  various  homes;  for  example,  in  the  garbage 
disposal,  the  smoke  nuisance,  sewage  disposal,  the  drainage 
of  city  lots,  quarantine,  protection  of  the  water-supply,  and 
elimination  of  nuisances.  After  all  is  said,  however,  cooper- 
ative health  activities  will  largely  be  taken  care  of  by  spe- 
cialized civic  departments :  the  board  of  health,  city  food 
inspectors,  market  inspectors,  milk  inspectors,  the  city 
water  department,  the  garbage  and  waste  disposal  depart- 
ment, the  sewage  disposal  department,  the  playground 
department,  the  city  smoke  inspectors,  building  inspectors, 
the  factory  inspection  service,  etc.    The  inteUigent  city. 


204  THE  CURRICULUM 

village,  or  rural  region  of  the  future  will  see  that  part-time 
work  is  provided  mature  pupils  for  training  purposes  in 
connection  with  these  several  cooperative  activities.  The 
quantity  of  responsibility  placed  upon  them  probably  need 
not  be  large.  That  they  be  in  contact  with  the  realities  is 
the  principal  thing. 

While  such  part-time  participation  is  needed  for  substan- 
tiality, the  major  portion  of  their  practical  labors  in  con- 
nection with  all  of  these  things  will  necessarily  be  the 
gathering  of  facts,  the  making  of  surveys,  the  preparation 
of  publicity  charts,  diagrams,  statistical  tables,  reports  that 
are  to  be  used  in  the  inspectorial  labors  of  the  total  com- 
munity. This  has  been  suflBciently  discussed  in  a  previous 
chapter.  The  methods  employed  will  be  the  same  for  the 
social  aspects  of  health  care  as  for  any  other  cooperative 
group  task. 


PART  V 
EDUCATION  FOR  LEISURE  OCCUPATIONS 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE 

All  of  our  discussion,  whether  of  play  or  work,  assumes 
that  education  is  preparation  for  the  affairs  of  the  mature 
world.  This  is  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  educa- 
tion of  the  nine-year-old  child  is  to  prepare  for  the  life  of 
the  ten-year-old;  and  this  in  turn  for  that  of  the  eleven-year- 
old.  But  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  way,  education 
during  the  formative  stages  of  childhood  and  youth  is  to 
prepare  for  the  long  stage  of  maturity. 

xlttention  is  called  to  this,  since  we  are  not  here  primarily 
concerned  with  the  plays  of  children  for  their  own  sake,  but 
with  play-experience  as  preparation  for  the  leisure  occu- 
pations of  adult  men  and  women.  We  are  discussing  train- 
ing for  adult  life  as  fully  as  in  the  chapters  on  vocational  or 
civic  education.  It  is  true  that  play  is  a  large  factor  in  the 
lives  of  youth,  since  it  is  man's  fundamental  education;  but 
it  is  no  less  one  of  the  largest  factors  in  normal  adult  life. 
Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson  has  a  lecture  entitled  "Which  is 
the  life  of  man  —  his  work  or  his  play?"  His  answer  is,  "It 
is  his  play."  Play  is  both  end  and  process. 

"Man  is  a  whole  man  only  when  he  plays,"  goes  the  old 
proverb.  As  worded  by  Schiller:  "Man  plays  only  when 
he  is  a  human  being  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  he 
has  reached  full  humanity  only  when  he  plays.  This  propo- 
sition will  acquire  great  and  deep  significance  when  we  shall 
learn  to  refer  to  it  the  doubly  serious  ideas  of  duty  and 
destiny.  It  will  then  sustain  the  entire  superstructure  of 
aesthetic  art  and  of  the  yet  more  diflficult  art  of  life." 

Leisure  occupations  are  physical,  intellectual,  social,  and 


208  THE  CURRICULUM 

sesthetic:  conversation,  observation  of  men  and  things,  con- 
struction and  operation  of  things,  hobbies,  sports,  games, 
athletics,  reading,  travel,  music,  painting;  scientific  experi- 
mentation prompted  by  interest  in  science;  the  reading  of 
history,  economics,  philosophy,  science,  foreign  languages, 
mathematics,  and  technology,  when  prompted  by  love  of  the 
subject  and  delight  in  the  intellectual  experience;  religious 
meditations  and  philosophic  contemplation.  The  field  is 
wide. 

Men  and  women  have  considerable  leisure  time.  A  week 
consists  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  hours.  After  allow- 
ing twelve  hours  a  day  for  sleep  and  meals,  there  remain 
eighty-four  hours  per  week.  With  an  eight-hour  day  and 
Saturday  half-holiday,  the  work-week  is  forty-four  hours 
and  the  leisure-week,  forty  hours.  With  a  labor-week  that 
meets  general  approval,  a  man  has  almost  as  much  time  for 
his  leisure  as  for  his  work. 

There  is  more  opportunity  than  the  figures  show.  Recre- 
ational activities  are  mingled  with  work-activities.  One's 
eyes,  one's  attention,  one's  thoughts  are,  while  he  works, 
continually  roving  over  the  things  of  his  environment  for 
no  serious  purpose.  Very  much  of  this  watchfulness  and 
thought  as  to  things  going  on  about  him  is  not  an  essential 
portion  of  his  immediate  task.  It  is  a  leisure  occupation  as 
completely  as  his  observations  out  of  a  car  window.  Then 
there  is  conversation  with  his  associates  concerning  things 
unrelated  to  his  work.  Where  conversation  is  not  possible, 
there  is  meditation,  reminiscence,  day-dreaming,  planning 
of  social  activities,  and  the  consideration  of  one's  current 
problems.  The  mechanization  of  industry  often  provides 
favorable  conditions  for  this  quiet  intellectual  leisure  occu- 
pation. The  man  performs  his  work  with  no  more  mind 
upon  it  than  if  he  were  a  machine.  His  hands  perform  the 
labors,  but  he  himself  is  out  in  the  wide  fields  of  imaginative 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     209 

experience.  Although  working  eight  or  ten  hours  a  day  at 
a  mechanical  trade,  many  of  these  may  really  be  hours  in 
which  his  consciousness  is  mainly  devoted  to  leisure  occupa- 
tion. Such  a  man's  play-life  even  during  the  hours  of  his 
work  may  be  larger  than  his  work-life. 

And  even  beyond  this,  there  is  opportunity.  It  consists  in 
transfusing  the  work-activities  with  the  play-spirit.  For 
example,  Mr.  Edison  is  reported  to  have  said,  "I  think  I 
have  never  done  a  day's  work  in  my  life."  Although  devot- 
ing ten  to  twenty  hours  a  day  to  laboratories  and  shops,  the 
labors  have  been  so  fully  vivified  by  the  quickening  spirit 
of  play  that  sense  of  drudgery  and  bondage  to  conditions 
have  been  eliminated.  When  a  man  thus  attains  his  free- 
dom, when  he  feels  himself  master  over  his  work  rather  than 
the  servant  of  his  work,  he  has  made  it  one  of  his  large  fields 
of  recreational  experience.  Since  work  of  this  transfigured 
tyj>e  is  really  so  much  more  accurate,  proficient,  and  pro- 
ductive of  material  results,  one  of  the  ends  of  vocational 
education  must  be  this  transfiguration. 

Education  must  take  note  of  the  disparities  of  human 
character.  Even  within  the  same  race,  men  often  seem  so 
different  as  scarcely  to  belong  to  the  same  species.  Com- 
pare, for  example,  a  group  of  bankers,  bishops,  or  judges 
with  the  hard-handed  laborers  upon  our  streets  or  in  our 
mines  and  factories.  The  professional  men  ,stand  poised, 
erect,  full-statured,  physically  flexible,  buoyant  with  energy. 
Intellectually,  they  are  rich  in  stores  of  the  world's  wisdom 
and  their  mental  horizon  and  outlook  are  as  wide  as  the 
world  itself.  Their  social  presence  is  stimulating,  exhila- 
rating, contagiously  uplifting.  They  seem  to  be  a  revela- 
tion of  the  nature  of  complete  manhood.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  members  of  the  hard-handed  army  of  unskilled 
labor,  especially  if  they  have  reached  middle  life,  in  large 
portion  present  a  different  picture.   Physically  they  all  too 


glO  THE  CURRICULUM 

often  appear  worn,  hard,  and  misshapen.  Heavy,  impassive 
features  reveal  an  all  too  frequent  sluggishness  and  vacancy 
of  mental  life.  Too  often  they  have  little  information  be- 
yond that  picked  up  at  random  in  the  course  of  a  meager 
and  sordid  experience.  Their  mental  life  too  often  has  but 
a  narrow  horizon,  and  but  little  sky.  Their  pleasures  too 
often  are  upon  a  sensuous  level.  With  exteriors  so  hard  and 
impassive,  with  conversation  so  crude  and  materialistic, 
with  minds  so  circumscribed  or  vacant,  their  social  presence 
is  often  wanting  in  many  desirable  factors.  One  feels  in- 
stinctively that  these  do  not  represent  the  norms  of  person- 
ality. Both  high  and  low  turn  instinctively  to  the  other 
type  as  the  norms  of  what  men  might  and  should  be. 

The  differences  are  largely  due,  not  to  heredity,  but  to 
differing  developmental  conditions.  The  large  place  of  play 
in  the  process  is  well  stated  by.  Professor  James  in  one  of  his 
striking  paragraphs:  — 

Compare  the  accomplished  gentleman  with  the  poor  artisan  or 
tradesman  of  a  city:  during  the  adolescence  of  the  former,  objects 
appropriate  to  his  growing  interests,  bodily  and  mental,  were 
offered  as  fast  as  the  interests  awoke,  and,  as  a  consequence,  he  is 
armed  and  equipped  at  every  angle  to  meet  the  world.  Sport  came 
to  the  rescue  and  completed  his  education  where  real  things  were 
lacking.  He  has  tasted  of  the  essence  of  every  side  of  human  life, 
being  sailor,  hunter,  athlete,  scholar,  fighter,  talker,  dandy,  man 
of  affairs,  etc.,  all  in  one.  Over  the  city  poor  boy's  youth  no  such 
golden  opportunities  were  hung,  and  in  his  manhood  no  desire  for 
most  of  them  exist.  Fortunate  it  is  for  him  if  gaps  are  the  only 
anomalies  his  instinctive  life  presents;  perversions  are  too  often 
the  fruit  of  his  unnatural  bringing  up. 

"Sport  came  to  the  rescue."  Play  is  Nature's  method  of 
building  out  those  aspects  of  personality  that  are  left  fallow 
by  an  otherwise  incomplete  and  barren  experience.  Play  is 
Nature's  normalizer. 

Defects  of  personality  may  be  due,  not  merely  to  lack  of 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     211 

developmental  opportunity,  but  also  to  failure  to  maintain 
gains  that  have  previously  been  made.  The  classical  illus- 
tration is  presented  in  Darwin's  autobiography:  — 

Up  to  the  age  of  thirty  or  beyond  it,  poetry  of  many  kinds  gave 
me  great  pleasure;  and  even  as  a  schoolboy  I  took  intense  delight 
in  Shakespeare,  especially  in  the  historical  plays.  I  have  also  said 
that  pictures  formerly  gave  me  considerable,  and  music  very  great, 
delight.  But  now  for  many  years  I  cannot  endure  to  read  a  line  of 
poetry.  I  have  tried  lately  to  read  Shakespeare  and  found  it  so 
intolerably  duU  that  it  nauseated  me.  I  have  also  almost  lost  my 
taste  for  pictures  or  music.  .  .  .  My  mind  seems  to  have  become  a 
kind  of  machine  for  grinding  general  laws  out  of  large  collections 
of  facts;  but  why  this  should  have  caused  the  atrophy  of  that  part 
of  the  brain  alone  on  which  the  higher  tastes  depend,  I  cannot  con- 
ceive. ...  If  I  had  to  live  my  life  again,  I  would  have  made  a  rule 
to  read  some  poetry  and  listen  to  some  music  at  least  once  every 
week;  for  perhaps  the  parts  of  my  brain  now  atrophied  would  thus 
have  been  kept  alive  through  use.  The  loss  of  these  tastes  is  a  loss 
of  happiness  and  may  possibly  be  injurious  to  the  intellect,  and 
more  probably  to  the  moral  character,  by  enfeebling  the  emotional 
parts  of  our  nature. 

If  this  dying  away  of  certain  of  the  higher  portions  of  the 
personality  should  be  so  marked  in  the  case  of  a  studious, 
scholarly  man  like  Darwin,  who  had  traveled  widely,  read 
widely,  and  who  was  in  constant  association  with  the  leaders 
of  science,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  in  the  case  of  that 
great  majority  of  men  and  women  of  lesser  opportunity 
in  whom  the  original  developments  were  less  complete,  the 
atrophy  of  the  higher  powers  might  well  be  much  more 
marked.  Thus  the  large  gains  during  school-days  are  lost, 
soon  or  late,  if  there  is  not  continuing  exercise  for  mainte- 
nance. Things  must  be  earned  before  one  can  possess  them; 
but  they  must  be  re-earned  continually  in  order  that  posses- 
sion may  continue.  One's  work-activities  are  usually  too 
narrow  and  specialized  to  provide  for  the  necessary  protec- 
tion against  the  decays  of  disuse;  and  the  conditions  grow 


212  THE  CURRICULUM 

worse  as  specialization  increases.  Interest-driven  leisure  oc- 
cupations alone  can  provide  the  necessary  counteracting  in- 
fluences. In  the  face  of  the  maleficent  influence  of  special- 
ization upon  personality,  play  is  again  Nature's  normalizer. 
It  maintains  the  personality  against  decay. 

Play  is  as  normal  for  adulthood  as  for  childhood.  During  \ 
childhood  it  is  to  unfold  the  potential  powers  and  make 
them  actual;  and  at  each  level  to  maintain  the  gains  of 
earlier  levels.  During  adulthood  it  is  to  maintain  for  a  life- 
time all  of  the  awakened  and  expanded  aspects  of  person- 
ality so  as  to  prevent  withering  and  disappearance. 

It  is  probable  that  in  the  newer  schools  of  the  oncoming 
humanistic  age,  education  for  leisure  occupations  will  be 
recognized  as  one  of  the  most  serious  educational  tasks  —  if 
not  the  largest  and  most  vital  of  all.  Vocational  education  is 
receiving  enthusiastic  and  liberal  support  because  it  prom- 
ises increased  production  of  corn  and  cotton,  of  machinery 
and  clothing,  and  the  other  material  means  of  Hfe.  Leisure 
occupations  relate  to  the  production  not  of  the  means  of 
life,  but  of  life  itself;  of  fully  rounded  character;  and  the 
continuing  maintenance  of  that  character.  If  we  are  to 
educate  for  eflBciency  in  producing  the  means  of  life,  we 
should  also  educate  eflficiently  for  the  production  of  life 
itself. 

In  order  to  develop  sufficiently  the  educational  implica- 
tions, we  must  introduce  a  little  of  the  physiology  and  psy- 
chology of  play.  The  first  thing  to  be  noted  is  the  relation 
of  exercise  to  the  development  and  maintenance  of  structures 
and  functions.  Everybody  knows  that  muscles  require 
exercise  for  normal  development  of  both  structure  and 
function;  and  for  maintenance.  It  is  not  so  well  known,  but 
just  as  true,  that  exercise  is  necessary  for  mental  function- 
ing, social  functioning,  assthetic  activities,  religious  and 
philosophic  contemplation,  appreciations  of  science  and  lit- 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE      213 

erature  and  art,  sympathies  and  emotions  in  general;  and 
for  maintenance  of  the  power  to  fmiction. 

A  second  thing  to  be  noted  is  the  instability  of  growth- 
results.  Structures  and  functions  disappear  when  unused: 
and  relative  to  man's  needs,  the  atrophy  is  rapid.  It  would 
be  a  fine  thing  indeed  and  make  enormously  for  economy 
if  structures  and  powers  once  developed  remained  perma- 
nent and  constant.  Our  educational  problem  would  then 
be  to  bring  the  muscles  to  their  proper  level  of  development 
and  then  simply  leave  them  there  with  a  constant  strength 
and  power,  whether  used  or  unused,  for  an  entire  lifetime. 
The  task  would  further  be  to  develop  one's  mental  powers 
in  desirable  measure  and  then-  to  leave  them  with  unchanged 
strength  during  the  rest  of  one's  days,  whether  used  much 
or  little,  regularly  or  irregularly.  It  would  be  a  beautiful 
arrangement;  and  it  sometimes  appears  that  educational 
practices  presuppose  that  such  conditions  exist.  But  un- 
fortunately man  is  not  so  constituted.  The  moment  he 
relaxes  his  normal  exercise  of  muscles,  heat-producing  ap- 
paratus, and  nerve-structures,  or  his  mental,  social,  sesthetic, 
and  other  activities,  whether  he  be  child  or  adult,  that  mo- 
ment the  structures  begin  to  atrophy  and  the  powers  to 
decline;  and  the  loss  is  more  rapid  than  generally  realized. 

Relative  to  the  abruptness  of  frequent  need,  tJie  upbuilding 
or  re-upbuilding  is  slow.  This  is  well  illustrated  in  the  pres- 
ent training  of  our  national  army.  It  was  predicted  that 
should  ever  national  danger  arise,  an  efficient  army  would 
spring  into  existence  overnight.  The  need  came  with 
suddenness;  but  the  men  in  general  were  found  to  be  in- 
sufficiently developed  in  muscular  strength,  endurance,  and 
resistance  to  climatic  conditions.  In  part  they  represent 
incomplete  physical  development;  in  part  atrophy  due  to 
sedentary  life.  They  may  assemble  under  the  colors  in  a 
few  days,  but  they  cannot  so  quickly  call  into  existence  the 
necessary  powers. 


gl4 


THE  CURRICULUM 


A  further  principle  is  that  heredity  'provides  the  possibility 
of  a  much  fuller  development  than  demanded  by  the  conditions 
of  civilization;  and  play  must  make  up  the  deficit.  Rightly  to 
appreciate  this  we  must  look  first  to  the  place  of  play  in  pre- 
civilized  life. 


WW7-£-/q 

Sa^r-re^ 

/=(^7U/^/V  ,^ 

/^^TViR/Vo^ 

WA^     or 

/=>Sy^C£-  or 

^a/rj:> 

^.^y 

r^A/^'/^s 

A^^'^T-y 

CO^O/TYO/VS 

CO  '^a/TTOAKT 

■.r iyi--.-. 

■JJ  llljjjilllll , 

Fig.  8.  The  varying  degrees  of  intensity  in  man's  primitive  biological 
struggle.  Represented  by  the  height  of  the  vertical  lines. 


Figure  8  is  designed  to  represent  crudely  the  varying 
intensity  in  the  demands  of  the  primitive  biological  struggle 
over  a  period  of  time.  In  those  early  ages  the  winter  was 
often  a  period  of  scarcity,  of  famine,  of  struggle  with  cli- 
matic elements  and  with  competing  hostile  tribes.  Condi- 
tions often  demanded  the  expansion  and  exercise  of  one's 
full  potential  powers.  The  demand  for  effort  is  represented 
by  the  distance  between  the  horizontal  lines.  With  the 
coming  of  summer,  the  increase  in  the  food-supply,  the 
decrease  in  the  competition  with  hostile  tribes,  and  the 
temporary  disappearance  of  the  climate  struggle,  the  de- 
mands for  strenuous  exertion  were  relaxed.  This  was  so 
complete  that  there  was  no  need  of  the  men's  doing  any- 
thing for  months  at  a  time.  But  the  seasons  brought  recur- 
rence of  the  struggle.  The  figure  indicates  that  conditions 
may  precipitate  the  struggle  very  suddenly;  and  thus  after 
months  of  inactivity  call  for  instant  functioning  of  the  indi- 
vidual's full  powers. 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     215 

Let  us  for  a  moment  suppose  that  there  were  under  such 
conditions  no  instinctive  tendencies  to  play.  Then  in  pro- 
portion as  the  demands  of  the  struggle  relaxed,  the  indi- 
vidual would  grow  correspondingly  quiescent  in  muscular 
ejffort,  in  observation,  in  thought,  in  invention,  in  conver- 
sation and  development  of  ideas  in  conversation,  and  in 
other  social  activities.  As  exercise  thus  relaxed,  the  powers 
would  atrophy  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  disuse.  Figure 
8,  therefore,  shows  what  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  actual 
powers  of  the  individual  under  such  conditions  would  be,  — • 
provided  the  atrophy  of  unused  powers  was  as  rapid  as  the 
diminution  in  the  demands  of  the  struggle,  and  the  recovery 
of  those  same  powers  could  be  as  rapid  as  the  onset  of  the 
sti*uggle  where  it  is  relatively  sudden. 

Unfortunately  the  latter  supposition  is  not  true.  Recovery 
of  atrophied  powers  is  relatively  slaw;  yet  the  need  of  rapid 
recovery  under  primitive  conditions  was  frequent.  War 
came  unexpectedly;  famine  also.  Men  had  always,  there- 
fore, to  be  in  a  state  of  preparedness  to  meet  the  sudden 
onsets.  Nature  could  not  permit  man's  exercise,  therefore, 
to  diminish  in  proportion  as  the  struggle  grew  relaxed.  The 
loss  of  powers  would  make  the  individual  the  prey  of  any 
sudden  and  unexpected  attack.  If  caught  unprepared  he 
would  find  himself  in  the  condition  of  an  army  that  has  not 
kept  up  its  drill  and  which  when  called  to  sudden  and  un- 
expected war  finds  itself  weak,  flabby,  and  lacking  in  endur- 
ance. Such  a  condition  would  not  only  invite,  but  under  the 
circumstances  would  result,  in  destruction.  The  man,  there- 
fore, during  those  days  had  to  be  kept  drilled  during  the 
period  of  relaxation  in  the  biological  struggle  in  order  that 
he  should  be  ready  for  the  times  of  stress.  He  must  not  be 
caught  unprepared. 

The  level  of  needed  preparedness  is  roughly  represented 
by  Figure  9.   The  segments  of  the  vertical  lines  below  the 


«16 


THE  CURRICULUM 


I  I  !  ! 


PT 


T^ 


mr 


I!'! 


1 1 


TTT 
I  '  ' 


M 


J  I 


Itii 


/ 


'r^/vjiE 


Fig.  9.  The  relatively  constant  degree  of  preparedness  needed  for  the 
inconstant  conditions  of  primitive  life.  Needed  preparedness  represented 
by  the  total  vertical  lines.  The  portion  above  the  curved  line  AB  to  be 
provided  through  play-activities. 

curved  line  AB  represent  the  portion  of  his  preparedness 
provided  for  by  his  serious  activities.  The  segments  above 
the  line  AB  represent  the  portions  of  his  preparedness  that 
could  not  be  taken  care  of  by  his  serious  activities  and  which 
therefore  had  to  be  otherwise  provided  for.  So  far  as  the 
struggle  of  the  moment  was  concerned,  this  surplus  of  powers 
was  mere  luxury.  Primitive  man  was  not  intelligent  enough 
to  know  that  during  periods  of  biological  relaxation  he  must 
keep  his  body  and  mind  in  a. continual  state  of  preparedness 
and  that  continuing  functioning  ,was  necessary  for  the  pur- 
pose. He  was  notoriously  lacking  in  foresight;  and  what  is 
more,  his  knowledge  of  educational  processes  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  enable  him  wisely  to  choose  the  best  means.  When 
enlightened  twentieth-century  individuals  are  so  lacking  in 
these  things,  obviously  it  could  not  be  expected  that  prim- 
itive man  would  be  continually  looking  forward  to  the  re- 
newal of  the  struggle  and  consciously  keeping  up  his  gym- 
nastic exercises  of  mind  and  body  in  order  that  he  be  always 
prepared.  And  yet  the  great  variety  of  exercises  had  to 
continue.  For  this  reason  Nature  provided  man  with  his 
wealth  of  play  tendencies.  He  was  impelled  to  play  at 
fighting  when  real  fighting  was  no  longer  necessary;  to  hunt 
and  fish  for  pleasure  when  not  required  for  the  food-supply; 
to  travel  about  over  the  region;  to  move  among  his  fellows; 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     217 

to  converse  concerning  the  tribal  experiences;  to  observe 
the  actions  of  men  and  animals  and  the  elements;  and  all 
for  the  mere  pleasure  of  the  activities.  Although  not  de- 
manded by  the  struggle,  he  ran  and  jumped,  swam  and 
climbed,  shouted  and  danced,  in  obedience  to  the  prompt- 
ings of  Nature  that  he  exercise  and  thus  keep  himself  ever 
ready  for  serious  action  when  it  came.  The  pleasure  was 
not  the  end;  but  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  end.  It  was  the 
lure.  The  man  who  did  not  so  exercise  in  play  by  way  of 
maintaining  the  necessary  surplus  of  powers  was  cut  down 
in  the  next  onset  of  the  struggle;  and  his  heredity  was  cut 
down  with  him.  Only  those  endowed  with  strong  play- 
tendencies  were  preserved;  and  to  their  sons  were  trans- 
mitted the  same  play-tendencies.  In  those  days  as  well,  play 
was  Nature's  normalizer,  disciplining  individuals  whose 
intelligence  —  likewise  hereditary  —  was  too  frail  to  direct 
the  process. 

In  those  early  ages  children  were  differently  situated.  In 
periods  of  greatest  hardship,  the  burden  fell  first  and  most 
heavily  upon  them.  More  than  with  the  adults,  they  had 
ever  to  be  as  completely  prepared  as  possible.  With  them, 
therefore,  the  play-tendencies  were  urgent  and  incessant. 
Not  only  was  there  for  them  this  purpose  of  vigilant  main- 
tenance of  all  of  the  gains,  but  there  was  also  the  original 
unfoldment  of  their  abilities.  For  both  purposes  the  in- 
stincts needed  to  be  certain  in  their  action  and  strongly  im- 
pelling. Seen  biologically,  children's  play  was  —  and  is  — • 
the  most  serious  function  of  childhood.  It  was  then  —  and 
to-day  should  be  —  the  largest  factor  in  the  child's  educa- 
tion. We  refer  here,  of  course,  to  play  in  its  wider  sense,  as 
it  includes  social,  intellectual,  and  aesthetic  activities  as  well 
as  the  physical. 

This  discussion  of  the  primitive  situation  is  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  home  to  us  a  reaUzation  of  the  present  sit- 


818 


THE  CURRICULUM 


uation  and  the  nature  of  our  educational  problems.  The 
potentialities  of  man  developed  during  those  early  ages  have 
been  handed  down  to  om*  own  generation  in  heredity.  The 
possible  degree  of  unfoldment  of  our  powers  was  largely 
determined  for  men  of  the  present  within  those  early  days. 
We  are  but  the  living  portion  of  the  same  series  of  genera- 
tions. The  types  of  activities  which  they  needed  to  perform 
for  their  full  unfoldment,  we  yet  need  to  perform,  —  though 
with  modifications  to  meet  artificial  conditions.  The  im- 
pelling tendencies  which  actuated  them  are  also  the  only 
ones  given  to  us  to-day. 

Although  man's  original  nature  has  not  greatly  changed, 
his  external  environment  and  the  conditions  of  the  struggle 
have  been  greatly  transformed.  Figure  10  roughly  indicates 


vAwriryi 


VV/yV^ir/^ 


gi/^^/^t^ 


Fig.  10.  The  relaxed  and  relatively  unchanging  intensity  in  man's 
present-day  biological  struggle. 


certain  changes  in  the  struggle.  The  distance  between  the 
two  horizontal  lines  is  intended  to  represent  schematically 
the  magnitude  of  man's  hereditary  potential  powers;  the 
vertical  lines,  the  quantity  of  energy  to  be  expended  in 
the  twentieth-century  type  of  biological  struggle.  In  large 
measure,  the  struggle  has  been  evened  over  the  year.  The 
labors  of  factories  and  mines,  commerce  and  transportation, 
etc.,  are  now  much  the  same  from  year's  end  to  year's  end. 
In  our  abundant  provision  of  clothing,  fuel,  and  shelter,  we 
have  mostly  banished  winter  and  evened  the  climatic  strug- 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     219 

gle.  In  developing  a  world  agricultural  community,  systems 
of  transportation  and  storage,  we  have  banished  famine. 
In  spite  of  the  present  atavistic  European  outbreak,  we 
think  that  we  have  done  most  of  the  things  necessary  for 
banishing  war.  In  the  invention  of  labor-saving  machinery, 
in  the  specialization  of  industry,  and  in  organization  under 
trained  direction,  we  seem  to  have  banished  the  necessity 
for  thought,  judgment,  observation,  accurate  and  detailed 
information,  and  comprehensiveness  of  understanding  of 
things  about  us,  for  the  great  majority  of  men.  Primitive 
man  had  to  be  watchful,  alert,  and  thoughtful  as  to  the  sig- 
nificance of  a  host  of  things  within  his  environment.  He 
had  to  keep  informed  as  to  what  other  people  around  him 
were  thinking  and  doing.  He  had  to  be  kept  alive  in  his 
social  sympathies  so  as  instantly  to  rally  to  the  support  of 
his  fellow  tribesmen  in  sudden  emergency.  Civilization  has 
diminished  the  need  for  these  things.  A  man  can  now  be 
little  —  in  body,  in  mind,  in  social  responsiveness,  in  moral 
responsibility  —  and  yet  survive  in  the  relaxed  conditions 
of  the  modern  struggle.  Specialization  can  hold  us  in  such 
narrow  grooves  and  provide  us  with  such  meager  opportuni- 
ties for  experiences  that  we  can  pass  through  life  in  a  state 
of  littleness.  It  is  to  live  but  half  a  life  —  or  less. 

Such  a  state  of  half-life  means,  not  merely  half -realization 
alone,  but  also  subnormality  or  abnormality  of  even  that 
which  is  realized.  It  is  not  good  physically  to  have  powers 
only  half-developed.  It  means  flabbiness,  incoordination, 
inaccuracy,  lowered  physiological  inhibitions,  susceptibility 
to  disease,  lowered  reserves  of  vitality,  and  a  consequent 
imperfect  foundation  for  one's  mental,  social,  aesthetic,  and 
moral  life. 

Intellectual  half-life  or  quarter-life  is  not  good  for  one 
mentally,  even  though  under  another's  direction  he  perform 
the  tasks  that  fall  to  his  lot.  It  means  intellectual  flabbiness, 


220 


THE  CURRICULUM 


a  leaning  upon  others,  uncertainty,  inaccuracy,  lack  of  con- 
fidence, depleted  stores  of  information,  an  unobserving 
mind,  lack  of  initiative  and  inventiveness,  inadaptibility, 
inertia,  and  most  other  intellectual  weaknesses.  Such  an 
individual  lives  within  a  petty  environment  and  fails  even 
to  see  the  things  within  that  environment.  He  lacks  out- 
look upon  the  wide  world,  upon  the  past,  and  imagination 
as  to  the  possibilities  of  the  future.  Such  a  man  is  not  of  the 
type  demanded  by  twentieth-century  conditions. 

In  the  same  way  the  half-exercise  and  half-realization  of 
one's  social  powers  results  equally  in  social  ill-health:  social 
disintegration,  enfeebled  social  sympathies,  incoordination 
of  individuals  within  the  group  except  as  enforced  by  exter- 
nal authority,  social  unresponsiveness,  lack  of  consideration 
for  others,  lack  of  tact,  social  irresponsibility,  and  other 
social  ills. 


TO 


I  llijil'i  > 


I  I  I  I  I  I 
•  '  ■  •  I  I 


I  11 


>!illi 


I       I       I       !  i     I  I  I  i  It 
I    I     III     I       I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I 


I  I  I 


II  » 


w//vr;5"/^ 


SO^^/^£^ 


Su/^f^£'^* 


FiQ.  11.  To  represent  the  portion  of  man's  potential  development  that  in 
our  present  civilized  state  is  dependent  upon  continuing  play-activities. 


Figure  11  is  designed  to  represent  schematically  the  pos- 
sible and  desirable  additional  expansion  of  one's  powers.  The 
unbroken  segments  of  the  vertical  lines  below  AB  represent 
the  fraction  of  one's  possible  powers  that  is  sustained  by 
one's  serious  activities;  the  broken  segments  above  AB^  the 
fractional  portion  that  is  to  be  added  and  sustained  through 
play  —  or  not  at  all.  Herein  lies  man's  opportunity  to  live 
above  and  beyond  the  ineluctable  dictates  of  stern  natural 
necessity. 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE      221 

The  vocational,  civic,  and  hygienic  education  already  dis- 
cussed seek  to  lower  the  level  ABy  and  thus  still  further  to 
reduce  the  call  for  serious  activity;  and  to  increase  both  the 
opportunity  and  the  necessity  for  leisure  occupations. 

Just  as  in  early  days,  this  further  expansion  is  to  be 
effected  through  activities  of  the  play  type.  Now  as  then 
it  is  to  be  at  the  prompting  of  normal  play-instincts  — 
though  the  artificial  conditions  of  modern  life  will  make  a 
large  amount  of  conscious  guidance  necessary.  No  less  than 
then,  the  pleasure-motive  —  under  guidance  —  must  be  the 
impelling  force  in  childhood  and  adulthood;  even  though 
this  pleasure  be  now,  as  then,  but  a  lure  and  not  the  end. 
It  is  unhealthy  to  be  too  conscious  of  the  nature  of  the  ends. 
The  play  should  long  be  unsophisticated.  It  should  be 
largely  so  throughout  life. 

Rightly  to  appreciate  the  place  of  play  in  adult  life,  one 
has  to  examine  the  activities  of  men  among  those  social 
classes  where  from  childhood  into  adulthood  the  play- 
impulses  have  had  full  opportunity  to  function;  where  they 
have  not  been  Stifled  by  adverse  conditions  and  barren 
opportunity.  It  is  best  revealed  by  men  and  women  of  the 
leisure  classes  and  of  independent  means.  They  have  all 
they  need,  and  there  is  therefore  no  call  for  them  to  act. 
The  general  social  machinery  protects  them  in  their  idleness. 
They  might  sit  at  home  in  year-long  undisturbed  quietude 
without  thought  or  care.  But  they  do  not;  and  they  cannot. 
They  are  most  miserable  if  they  are  not  doing  something 
most  of  the  time,  and  filling  life  to  the  brim.  They  must 
travel,  or  attend  the  opera,  play  bridge,  speculate  on  the 
stock  exchange,  attend  dinners,  dances,  and  other  social 
functions,  deck  themselves  in  gorgeous  plumage,  read  the 
latest  novels,  go  cruising  in  their  private  yachts,  motoring 
from  coast  to  coast  and  beyond  the  seas,  hunting  in  the 
Adirondacks,  fishing  in  the  wilds  of  Canada,  lion-hunting  in 


222  THE  CURRICULUM 

Africa,  climbing  the  Alps,  placing  their  money  at  Monte 
Carlo,  or  traveling  in  the  war-zone  to  get  the  thrills.  In 
their  restlessness  is  revealed  the  driving  power  of  the  play- 
tendency  in  adult  life.  The  results  are  beneficent.  This  is 
particularly  true  if  they  have  been  wise  enough  to  select  a 
balanced  assortment  of  experiences;  and  if  there  has  been 
intermingled  enough  of  serious  effort  to  give  them  ballast. 
They  are  instantly  recognized  to  be  larger  men  and  women 
than  those  who  have  been  held  within  the  narrow  grooves 
of  serious  vocational,  civic,  and  family  duty.  They  are  felt 
most  nearly  to  approximate  the  full  desirable  stature  of 
manhood  and  womanhood.  They  may  be  social  parasites, 
consuming  in  their  play  what  others  have  earned  in  sweat 
and  blood.  Nature's  rewards  on  the  side  of  personality  are 
not  in  proportion  to  one's  economic  usefulness  and  produc- 
tiveness; but  rather  to  the  volume  and  variety  of  one's 
experiences.  It  is  not  the  conscientious  individual  who  tries 
to  do  nothing  except  what  is  demonstrably  useful  who  most 
fully  realizes  himself. 

Professor  Groos's  volume  on  The  Play  of  Man  shows  that 
man  is  a  many-sided  creature  with  plays  of  great  number 
and  diversity,  involving  all  levels  of  his  being.  There  is,  in 
fact,  a  hierarchy  of  plays  ranging  from  the  gratification  of 
physical  appetites  and  the  pleasures  of  simple  sensation  at 
one  end  of  the  scale  up  to  the  highest  forms  of  intellectual 
play  as  foimd  in  science  and  philosophy.  At  the  lower  end 
of  the  scale,  one  finds  such  activities  as  eating,  drinking, 
smoking,  sex-activities,  and  crude  sensations  of  brightness, 
warmth,  etc.  Somewhat  higher  are  physical  sports  like 
wrestling,  boxing,  athletics,  tennis,  football,  and  other 
games  of  physical  contest.  Somewhere  about  this  level  pos- 
sibly we  should  classify  social  dancing.  Somewhat  farther 
along  the  scale  are  the  folk-dance,  marches,  processions,  pag- 
eantry, and  the  like.   A  thing  that  has  to  be  variously  classi- 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     223 

fied  as  to  level  is  conversation,  since  it  is  high  or  low  accord- 
ing to  theme  and  character.  Rather  high  on  the  scale  are 
purely  intellectual  games,  such  as  chess,  whist,  etc.  Still 
higher  are  the  fine  arts,  music,  literature,  drama,  opera,  etc. 
Naturally  the  level  of  these  is  determined  by  theme  and 
artistic  character.  They  may  deal  with  the  lowest  activities 
of  man  and  be  near  the  bottom  of  the  scale,  or  with  man's 
most  transcendent  activities  and  be  near  the  top.  At  the 
highest  end  of  the  scale,  most  removed  from  the  sensuous, 
are  the  rarefied  austere  leisure  occupations  of  intellectual 
character:  history,  science,  mathematics,  philosophy,  and 
the  contemplations  of  a  developed  religion. 

The  levels  of  this  hierarchy  are  very  differently  supported 
by  instincts.  The  physical  activities  at  the  bottom  are 
prompted  by  the  most  powerful  and  permanent  instincts. 
These  are  so  compelling  that  if  full  opportunities  for  satis- 
faction are  given,  and  strong  inhibitions  do  not  exist,  the 
lower  activities  are  almost  certain  to  be  carried  to  excess. 
In  a  state  of  nature  the  physical  and  herd  instincts  had  to 
be  strong  in  order  that  the  race  might  survive.  Civilized 
men  have  inherited  them  in  their  original  strength  and  often 
they  seem  stronger  than  needful.  Even  if  not  so,  they  seem 
to  be  disproportionate.  Civilized  man  needs  more  powerful 
and  permanent  instinctive  propulsions  for  the  higher  activi- 
ties. But  the  instincts  prompting  to  high  intellectual  en- 
deavor, to  large-grpup  consciousness,  and  to  humanizing 
art  are  relatively  feeble,  flickering,  and  transitory.  Man's 
original  nature,  shaped  by  primitive  conditions,  is  fitted 
for  simple  materialistic  small-group  conditions;  and  is  not 
rightly  balanced  for  the  new  conditions  of  civilization. 
This  makes  the  task  of  education  for  civilization  enormously 
difficult. 

Activities  on  all  of  the  levels  have  a  rightful  place;  but 
owing  to  the  inequalities  of  inner  propulsion,  the  amounts 


224  THE  CURRICULUM 

of  educational  effort  required  for  the  different  levels  are 
vastly  different.  Given  right  living  conditions  as  the  en- 
vironment of  youth,  the  activities  on  the  lower  levels  are 
so  fully  prompted  and  guided  by  instincts  that  the  Great 
School  of  experience  will  largely  take  care  of  them  without 
much  attention  from  educationists.  Those  of  the  higher 
levels,  however,  will  demand  not  only  a  right  stimulating 
community  environment  but  also  the  greatest  possible 
expert  stimulation, .  encouragement,  and  leadership  from 
teachers.  For  the  lower  levels  the  curriculum  problems  on 
the  positive  side  are  small;  for  the  higher,  they  are  the 
most  subtle,  complex,  and  difficult  presented  to  the  pro- 
fession. They  involve  the  development  of  a  twentieth- 
century  democratic  type  of  humanism;  one  that  in  an  age 
of  efficiency  can  be  made  efficiently  to  humanize  all  noB^ 
mal  individuals.  The  curriculum-inaker  has  an  inspiring 
task  that  in  large  part  is  new. 

Let  us  now  note  the  relation  of  this  humanistic  training 
to  certain  problems.  There  is,  for  example,  the  question 
raised  by  the  arrest  of  development  caused  by  specialized 
industry:  How  are  workers,  men  or  women,  to  keep  young 
and  plastic  in  a  specialized  age  which  everywhere  demands, 
youth  and  plasticity  and  which  tends  to  throw  specialized 
individuals  above  forty  upon  the  scrap-heap?  It  is  not 
really  a  matter  of  years,  but  of  mentality.  Some  are  old 
at  thirty;  others  are  plastic  and  adaptable  at  seventy.  We 
have  factories  at  present  where  each  workman  is  auto- 
matically discharged  when  he  reaches  the  age  of  forty.  By 
that  age  it  is  felt  that  the  withering  results  of  specialization 
have  so  cut  down  a  man's  effectiveness  that  he  must  yield 
to  those  not  yet  so  crippled.  In  the  beginning,  the  hot 
blood  of  youth,  its  spontaneity  and  its  enthusiasms,  lead 
to  such  initial  expansion  of  character,  outlook,  and  vigor  of 
action  as  to  give  one  the  efficiency  demanded.  But  continu- 


^      THE  FUNCTION  OF  PLAY  IN  HUMAN  LIFE     225 

ing  life  within  the  grooves  and  the  dwindhng  of  those  as- 
pects of  personality  not  exercised  by  this  mechanized  exis- 
tence result  inevitably  in  dwarfing  the  individual  in  body 
and  mind  and  social  responsiveness.  It  means  the  loss  of 
the  vitality  required  for  spontaneity  and  plasticity;  and 
of  ideas,  outlook,  and  enthusiasms.  If  the  individual  has 
not  during  the  blossoming  season  of  youth  developed  wide 
ranges  of  awakened  interests,  quickened  appreciations, 
habits  of  participation  in  an  extensive  series  of  leisure  occu- 
pations upon  all  levels,  including  the  intellectual,  old  age 
is  reasonably  certain  to  set  in  early  and  bring  about  an 
incapacity  that  is  real;  and  which  is  recognized  by  the 
practical  leaders  of  industry.  It  is  a  frequent  and  tragic 
misfortune  that  is  unnecessary  and  due  simply  to  a  narrow, 
incomplete  type  of  education  that  has  not  suflSciently  es- 
tabhshed  its  objectives. 

There  is  a  related  problem.  We  have  referred  to  the 
necessity  within  a  democracy  of  mutual  respect  on  the  part 
of  the  members  of  the  various  social  classes.  This  doctrine 
we  have  long  tried  to  preach  into  men;  but  without  no- 
ticeable success.  Here  as  everywhere  it  is  reality  and  not 
sentimentality,  however  well-intentioned,  that  in  the  long 
run  determines.  We  respect  a  man  according  to  the  char- 
acter of  his  personality.  We  withhold  respect  in  the  pro- 
portion in  which  the  man  falls  short  of  what  we  consider 
the  desirable  stature  of  full  manhood  and  womanhood.  In 
the  long  run,  therefore,  the  esteem  in  which  different  social 
classes  are  held  will  depend  upon  the  characters  of  the  men 
and  women  who  make  up  those  classes.  The  use  or  use- 
lessness  of  their  labors  will  have  relatively  little  to  do  di- 
rectly with  the  amount  of  respect  accorded.  A  man  is  re- 
spected for  what  he  is,  not  for  his  economic  productiveness. 

The  deficient  esteem  accorded  labor  is  not,  as  often 
thought,  because  their  clothes  and  hands  are  soiled  and 


226  THE  CURRICULUM  A,       ^ 

their  faces  covered  with  the  dust  of  industry.  The  profes- 
sional man  at  his  golf,  his  hobbies  in  home-shop  or  garden, 
or  on  hunting  or  fishing  expeditions,  may  be  no  better 
dressed  and  carry  as  great  a  quantity  of  dust  and  grime. 
In  their  case,  as  in  all  cases,  "  The  man's  the  man  for  a' 
that."  The  lack  of  respect  accorded  heavy-handed  labor 
has  enormously  deeper  roots  than  mere  external  appear- 
ance. It  is  the  disfigurement  of  the  man's  personality 
mainly  due  to  the  lack  of  humanistic  opportunity.  It  is 
not  the  fault  of  the  man,  but  of  the  conditions  under  which 
his  nature  was  unfolded;  of  his  education  Industrial 
education  designed  to  increase  productive  emciency  will 
not  alone  solve  the  problem.  It  requires  the  twentieth- 
century  type  of  humanism,  glimpses  of  which  we  have  tried 
to  present  in  this  volume. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION 

Primitive  man  had  a  considerable  variety  of  leisure  oc- 
cupations. But  it  appears  that  the  one  to  which  he  gave 
the  greatest  amount  of  time  and  attention  was  observation 
of  the  men  and  things  that  made  up  the  restricted  world 
in  which  he  lived  and  moved.  As  he  went  about  through 
the  Kttle  community  he  kept  watch  upon  his  associates, 
their  actions,  dress,  property,  living  conditions,  habits, 
manners  and  customs:  also  upon  animals,  plants,  climatic 
conditions,  natural  phenomena,  the  heavenly  bodies,  etc. 
As  he  acted  upon  and  reacted  to  many  of  them,  his  k^owl-  / 
edge  was  further  increased  through  various  sense-channels. 

What  he  could  not  observe  directly,  he  observed  through 
the  medium  of  language.  Listening  to  another's  report  is  f  c 
one  kind  of  seeing.  When  the  constitutents  of  situations 
are  familiar,  it  makes  relatively  little  difference  in  under- 
standing, whether  one  observes  directly  through  the  eyes 
of  sense  or  indirectly  through  the  eyes  of  language. 

Primitive  man  was  motivated  to  this  direct  and  indirect 
observation  in  part  by  his  serious  purposes;  but  in  large 
part  simply  by  his  interest  in  things  in  general.  In  the 
latter  there  was  no  conscious  purpose  of  putting  his  knowl- 
edge to  practical  use.  In  fact,  he  could  not  judge  the  value 
of  the  information  until  he  had  apprehended  it.  It  was 
mainly  a  leisure  activity;  and  leaving  aside  the  purely 
physical,  it  was  probably  by  far  his  most  important  leisure 
occupation. 

Nature's  purpose  in  providing  so  adequately  for  this  f 
leisure  occupation  is  clear.   The  man  had  to  move  and  act 


228  THE  CURRICULUM 

within  this  circle  of  things  and  forces  and  influences,  and 
to  shape  his  conduct  to  them  all.  In  the  unexpected  muta- 
tions of  human  affairs  he  never  could  know  with  which  of 
the  many  things  he  was  to  be  concerned.  He  had  to  be 
watchful  of  the  whole  pageant  of  community  affairs  in  order 
to  be  prepared  for  the  specific  adjustments  that  conditions 
should  demand.  Interrelations  and  interdependencies  were 
innumerable.  Rightly  to  know  any  part  required  that  one 
know  the  whole,  and  through  this  all  its  parts.  The  most 
useful  thing  was  an  adequate  vision  of  the  total  pageant  of 
community  life  and  of  the  conditioning  setting  or  back- 
ground. 

Our  interest  is  in  twentieth-century  civilized  life.  We 
began  with  primitive  life  because  of  the  obviousness  of  the 
relations.  For  modern  life  also  this  observation  of  human 
affairs  is  certainly  the  most  important  non-physical  leisure 
occupation;  but  for  our  time  it  has  an  enormously  larger 
function  to  perform.  Instead  of  our  being  the  denizens  of 
a  community  covering  only  a  few  square  miles,  we  are  citi- 
zens of  a  world-community.  To  move  with  understanding 
to-day  and  to  see  adequately  all  of  the  things  with  which 
one  has  vital  relation  and  responsibility,  one  needs  ade- 
quate and  continuous  vision  of  the  whole  world-pageant. 
I  Were  man*s  youth  sufficiently  long  and  the  facilities  of 
travel  sufficiently  cheap  and  abundant,  he  might  travel 
through  the  world  and  familiarize  himseK  with  it  as  did 
primitive  youth  in  his  smaller  community.  For  effective- 
ness of  education  he  needs  to  come  into  contact  with  essen- 
tial realities  the  world  over.  And  the  most  vital  contact 
is  the  direct.  Were  it  possible,  he  should  visit  all  parts  of 
the  world  and  observe  men  and  women  in  all  of  their  affairs. 
He  should  participate  in  all  types  of  activities :  in  the  voca- 
tions, the  recreations,  the  social  and  civic  affairs,  etc.  And 
he  should  talk  with  all  social  classes  concerning  their  affairs. 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION         229 

More  than  anything  else,  this  experience  would  give  him 
much-needed  world-understanding  and  sympathies. 

But  the  physical  limitations  are  insuperable.  Only  a 
small  fragment  of  such  experience  is  possible  even  for  indi- 
viduals most  favored:  whether  for  the  original  observations 
of  youth  or  for  the  continuing  observations  of  adulthood. 
Even  could  they  travel  as  widely  they  could  see  only  the 
present;  not  the  past.  And  they  need  nowadays  to  see 
both,  rightly  to  see  the  present;  for  we  are  a  part  of  the 
whole  interlinked  series  of  generations.  They  must  there- 
fore do  most  of  their  seeing  of  things  past  and  distant 
through  language,  mainly  reading..    * 

Our  discussion  thus  far  is  designed  to  indicate  what  man 
should  read.  Obviously  it  is  that  which  will  present  to 
him  a  full  and  adequate  revelation  of  the  vast  human 
drama  in  which  he  plays  his  part;  and  of  the  stage  upon 
which  it  is  enacted  and  by  which  conditioned.  It  is  to  en- 
able him  to  "see  life  steadily  and  see  it  whole." 

The  general  program  is  the  same  for  childhood,  youth, 
and  adulthood,  differing  only  in  so  far  as  demanded  by  the 
differing  stages  of  maturity.  Just  as  within  the  primitive 
community  the  child  of  ten  viewed,  so  far  as  his  maturity 
would  permit,  the  totality  of  community  affairs,  so  within 
the  life  of  to-day  the  child  of  ten  will,  in  his  readings,  so 
far  as  his  maturity  permits,  view  the  affairs  of  his  immeas- 
urably wider  community.  As  the  fifteen-year-old  or  twenty- 
one-year-old  youth  of  that  day  continued  to  look  upon  the 
same  community  affairs  acquiring  greater  depth  of  un- 
derstanding, greater  knowledge  of  details,  increased  in- 
sight into  relationships  and  values,  so  through  reading  will 
the  fifteen-  and  twenty-one-year-old  youth  of  our  day  sim- 
ply continue  his  observations  of  the  world-situation  for 
greater  depth  and  generality  of  understanding.  Adulthood 
will  push  on  farther,  continuing  the  same  theme. 


2S0  THE  CURRICULUM 

In  that  early  day,  learning  was  experiential.  Men  were 
not  consciously  learning  or  memorizing  facts.  They  lived; 
and  the  mind  was  filled  with  memories,  the  normal  residua 
of  experience.  And  generalized  understanding  like  the 
trunk  and  branches  of  a  tree  simply  grew  up  imperceptibly 
and  unconsciously  so  as  to  constitute  the  relatively  un- 
changing fundamentals  of  their  mental  life,  while  the  decid- 
uous foliage  of  their  transient  experiences  came  and  went. 

In  our  day,  original  human  nature  is  relatively  unchanged. 
We  have  no  reason  to  think  that  there  is  possible  any  new 
form  of  education  that  can  be  an  improvement  upon  the 
experiential  education  of  the  past.  New  conditions  demand 
adaptations,  adjustment  of  proportions,  the  use  of  new 
and  improved  instruments,  etc.;  but  at  bottom  as  indi- 
cated by  all  of  our  progressive  recent  movements  in  edu- 
cation, it  is  still  felt  that  experiential  education  constitutes 
the  best  training  for  the  individual.  If  the  principle  holds, 
then  the  purpose  of  the  reading  is  the  reconstruction  of  ex- 
perience. It  is  to  be  a  mode  of  living.  It  is  not  to  be  a  didac- 
tic verbal  presentation  of  unrooted  facts  and  generaliza- 
tions to  be  memorized,  recited  upon,  examined  upon,  and 
then  in  due  process  forgotten;  leaving  little  more  than  the 
unwholesome  residua  of  disagreeable  learning  experience. 

If  the  purposes  are  to  be  accomplished  as  fully  for  civi- 
lized man  in  the  midst  of  civilized  conditions  as  they  were 
for  primitive  man  among  primitive  conditions,  then  the 
readings  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  course,  to  the 
end  of  life  itself,  need  to  be  as  wide  and  varied  as  earthly 
life  and  to  give  an  adequate  revelation  of  all  major  types 
of  human  experience,  in  all  portions  of  the  world,  and  with 
such  historical  perspective  as  is  needed  for  each  of  the  va- 
rious regions.  And  what  is  more,  it  must  look  not  merely 
to  the  tangible  and  easily  apprehended  things  of  sense,  but 
also  to  the  intangible  forces,  influences,  and  relations  with- 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION         231 

out  a  vision  of  which  the  more  tangible  things  are  often 
meaningless.  The  intangibles  are  also  portions  of  reality. 

We  can  now  particularize  the  reading  program.  First  it 
will  present  a  revelation  of  man  in  his  present  dispersion 
over  a  diversified  planet.  Such  readings  we  classify  as  trav- 
els, geography,  ethnology,  descriptive  sociology,  anthro- 
pology, etc.  A  second  series  of  readings  will  reconstruct 
the  historical  background.  These  will  include  biography, 
travels  (during  past  ages),  history,  memoirs,  evolution- 
ary sociology,  etc.  Coming  under  both  of  the  classes  men- 
tioned there  will  be  such  sub-classes  as  industrial  read- 
ings, commercial  readings,  civic  and  sanitary  readings, 
etc.  A  third  type  of  readings  will  reveal  the  essential  na- 
tures and  relations  of  things:  science  readings,  mathe- 
matical, physical,  biological,  sociological,  technological,  etc. 
All  of  the  fundamental  sciences  need  to  be  read,  —  natu- 
rally in  connection  with  direct  contacts,  —  as  modes  of 
viewing  the  nature  of  the  world  in  which  we  are  called  upon 
to  act.  A  fourth  type  of  reading  is  literature,  in  the  nar- 
rower sense.  It  aims  to  present  anything  that  happens 
to  be  chosen  as  its  theme.  This  may  be  a  single  historical 
incident,  a  whole  historical  movement,  a  single  human 
relation,  an  interconnected  series  of  relations,  the  biog- 
raphy of  an  animal,  an  aspect  of  the  inorganic  world,  the 
nature  of  immortality,  or  anything  else,  tangible  or  intan- 
gible, near  or  remote,  real  or  mythical,  that  may  enter  into 
human  experience.  Clearly  literature  is  not  coordinate  with 
the  others.  It  cannot  be  separated  from  them.  Good  lit- 
erature in  its  narrower  sense  appears  simply  to  be  the  ade- 
quate presentation  of  any  of  them. 

Let  us  note  some  of  the  more  detailed  implications,  be- 
ginning with  the  geography.  In  the  primary  and  inter- 
mediate grades  in  addition  to  the  widest  practicable  direct 
observations,  there  will  be  stories  about  things  that  make 


I 


232  THE  CURRICULUM 

up  the  world  in  general.  Much  must  be  oral;  but  beyond 
the  first  grades  most  of  the  stories  will  be  read.  The  book- 
trade  is  rapidly  providing  suitable  books.  Here  are  a  few  ^ 
titles  taken  at  random:  Little  Folks  of  Many  Lands,  Eskimo 
Stories,  Around  the  World,  The  Wide  World,  Big  and  Little  ( 
People  in  Other  Lands,  The  Dutch  Twins,  The  Japanese  j 
Twins,  Little  Journeys  to  China  and  Japan,  Travels  in  Scoty 
land,  Gerda  in  Sweden,  etc.  The  more  literary  the  stories 
can  be,  in  the  sense  of  presenting  a  true  and  clear  and  in- 
teresting reconstruction  of  life  and  its  background  in  the 
various  regions,  the  better  for  the  educational  experience. 
The  readings  offered  at  present  have  largely  been  devel- 
oped in  an  educational  age  of  didacticism  and  fact-memori- 
zation, and  are  often  so  freighted  with  information  that  they 
do  not  reconstruct  life  so  that  it  can  be  visualized,  and  re- 
lived in  imagination.  Many  books,  however,  particularly 
the  more  recent,  have  avoided  the  pitfalls  and  fallacies  of 
didacticism.  They  simply  present  interesting  stories  that 
comply  with  literary  canons.  They  give  no  appearance  of 
an  attempt  to  be  "informing."  They  are  presented  upon 
the  sane  theory  that  if  children  are  permitted  to  enter 
vividly  into  the  life  of  a  country  and  view  conditions 
as  they  are,  they  will  have  intelligence  enough  to  see  the 
things  that  are  there,  and  to  carry  away  a  sufficient  resid- 
uum of  memories. 

These  readings  upon  the  earlier  levels  should  reveal  the 
fundamental  aspects  of  life  over  the  earth.  A  reconstruc- 
tion of  Eskimo  life,  for  example,  should  permit  the  children 
to  see  the  nature  of  the  houses,  the  furniture,  the  mode  of 
heating  and  lighting,  the  nature  of  the  clothing,  the  food- 
supply,  the  occupations  of  the  people,  the  recreations,  the 
religion,  the  nature  of  their  villages,  their  transportation, 
the  thrilling  adventures  at  times  met  with,  the  climate, 
land  and  water  forms,  lengths  of  day  and  night,  the  aurora 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  CKICUPATION  233 

borealis,  plant  and  animal  life,  the  nature  of  family  life,  the 
education  of  the  children,  etc.  The  reading  should  not  call 
attention  to  these  things  specifically  and  consciously.  As 
a  drama  upon  the  stage,  it  should  simply  present  the  re- 
constructed life  and  let  the  children  do  their  own  seeing  and 
understanding.  This  will  be  superficial  for  some  of  the 
things;  and  this  is  normal  for  little  children.  As  they  look 
at  corresponding  things  in  their  own  commimity,  they  see 
them  with  the  same  superficiality  and  incompleteness  of 
understanding.  One  of  the  most  mischievous  superstitions 
of  education  has  been  that  when  a  thing  is  presented  it 
must  be  completely  understood.  Really  normality  of  ex- 
perience upon  all  levels  results  in  a  full-knowledge  of  some 
things,  a  half-knowledge  of  other  things,  a  quarter-knowl- 
edge of  still  other  things,  and  the  merest  fragmentary  im- 
pressions of  still  other  things.  Experiential  training  expects 
these  normal  dijfferences;  is  suspicious  of  the  normality  of 
the  experience  if  they  are  absent. 

For  the  grammar  grades,  it  is  the  same  world-pageant 
that  is  to  be  observed  by  way  of  further  deepening  and 
extending  their  understanding  and  sympathies.  They  too 
will  read  accounts  that  permit  them  adequately  to  visual- 
ize life  in  its  totality  in  the  various  lands.  These  are  to  be 
selected  for  their  more  mature  understanding,  however, 
and  should  reveal  a  wealth  of  details  and  relationships  not 
possible  on  the  earlier  levels.  The  stories  require  for  ef- 
fectiveness in  the  reconstructions  the  same  types  of  literary 
merit;  and  absence  of  didacticism.  If  children  do  not  ac- 
quire this  habit  of  world-wiHe  observation  of  human  affairs 
during  school  days  when  the  instincts  are  most  fully  awake 
as  a  healthy  and  satisfying  leisure  occupation,  they  are 
not  likely  to  continue  it  during  the  years  of  adulthood. 
It  is  this  continuance  at  which  education  should  princi- 
pally aim.   This  is  immeasurably  more  important  at  this 


234  THE  CURRICULUM 

period  than  the  memorization  of  deciduous  information. 
But  it  will  take  care  of  the  information,  —  and  on  the 
sound  presumption  that  most  of  it  normally  is  deciduous. 
Let  them  develop  their  appreciations  and  their  habit  of 
world-observation  as  a  satisfying  leisure  occupation,  and 
the  amount  of  genuine  information  they  will  have  on  tap 
will  be  enormously  increased.  And  when  they  need  other 
information  they  know  how  to  acquire  it  expeditiously. 
But  let  them  during  grammar  grades  simply  be  dosed  with 
didactic  facts,  then  when  adulthood  is  reached,  they  will 
neither  have  the  facts  remembered,  —  except  where  the 
learning  was  accidentally  experiential,  —  nor  those  habits 
of  observation  of  world-wide  affairs  which  should  consti- 
tute the  most  important  non-physical  leisure  occupation 
of  adulthood. 

Unfortunately  the  major  portion  of  the  books  supplied 
for  grammar-grade  levels  are  heavily  didactic  and  imper- 
fectly fitted  for  experiential  education.  But  there  is  now  a 
clear  movement  away  from  the  verbal-fact-learning  method. 
Whereas  a  few  years  ago  in  progressive  school  systems,  the 
textbook  was  the  basis  of  the  training  with  the  so-called 
supplementary  books  merely  inessential  collateral  read- 
ings, at  the  present  time  the  geographical  readers  are  com- 
ing to  be  the  basis  of  the  training  with  the  standard  text- 
book relegated  to  the  position  of  reference-book  or  atlas. 
The  more  recent  geographical  readers  make  a  more  ade- 
quate attempt  to  reconstruct  living  experiences  within  the 
various  lands  and  less  to  presenting  merely  strings  of  facts. 
More  and  more  there  is  revealed  a  tendency  to  read  vivid 
narratives  of  travel  such  as  the  Cruise  of  the  Cachalot,  Two 
Years  before  the  Mast,  Darwin's  Voyage  of  the  Beagle,  Lost 
in  the  Jungle,  The  Land  of  the  Long  Night,  The  Peeps  at 
Many  Lands  Series,  Adventures  of  Two  Youths  in  Ceylon  and 
India,  Boy  Travellers  in  Australia,  Around  the  World  in  the 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION         235 

Sloop  Spray,  How  I  Found  Livingstone,  Through  the  Dark 
Continent,  etc.  A  still  further  step  is  the  increasing  use  of 
readings  that  are  ostensibly  literary  with  no  didactic  pur- 
pose, but  which  at  the  same  time  present  illiuninating  re- 
constructions of  some  region  or  important  life-situation; 
such  as  Heidi,  Lizheth  Longfrock,  The  Young  Ice-Whalers, 
etc. 

The  best  basis  for  that  geographical  problem-solving 
which  we  are  coming  to  think  should  constitute  a  very 
large  portion  of  the  training  experience  of  the  children  in 
this  field,  is  effective  contact  with  essential  realities.  The 
more  vital  the  contacts,  the  better  the  foundation  laid  for 
the  problem-solving.  It  may  appear  at  first  glance  that 
in  urging  reading  experiences  of  the  type  herein  described 
and  in  introducing  interest  and  vividness  of  concrete 
impressions,  we  are  falling  into  the  error  against  which  we 
are  so  often  cautioned  of  making  educational  experience 
too  soft  and  easy.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  urging  the 
kind  of  experience  required  by  the  demands  of  those 
hard-headed  practical  men  who  insist  that  education  shall 
result  from  the  most  vital  contact  possible  with  essential 
realities.  They  are  very  clear  as  to  what  these  contacts 
must  be  within  one's  local  environment:  direct  observa- 
tion, practical  participation,  and  the  like.  We  are  here 
only  saying  that  that  portion  of  the  world  which  lies 
beyond  the  horizon  is  also  to  be  given  the  greatest  possible 
degree  of  reality  in  the  minds  of  the  children.  Abstract 
didacticism  does  not  give  them  this  sense  of  reality.  A  half- 
page  exposition  of  the  cod-fishing  industry,  for  example, 
off  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  gives  the  children  no  es- 
sential realization  of  the  nature  of  that  industry.  Let  them, 
however,  read  Kipling's  Captains  Courageous,  and  thus  in- 
directly participate  in  the  various  activities  and  experi- 
ences of  the  fishing  fleet  off  Newfoundland,  and  they  will 


236  THE  CURRICULUM 

have  come  into  contact  with  that  type  of  human  experi- 
ence almost  as  eflBcaciously  as  if  they  had  been  actually 
upon  the  waters.  Let  them  in  the  same  vivid  way  travel 
in  spirit  across  the  wide  plains  of  Russia,  up  the  rivers  of 
China,  through  the  jungles  of  Africa  or  Brazil,  across  the 
Polar  ice-fields,  with  the  ore-fleets  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation,  live  upon  the  cotton  plantations  of  the 
South,  the  great  wheat  farms  of  the  Northwest,  in  the  timber 
regions  of  Georgia  and  Oregon,  etc.,  —  let  them  thus  know 
realities  from  vital  contacts  with  them  and  only  then  are 
they  prepared  for  the  geographical  problem-solving  which 
should  develop  an  understanding  of  the  more  general  in- 
fluences, forces,  and  relationships.  Experiential  educa- 
tion aims  at  the  greatest  possible  educational  efficiency, 
substantiality,  and  practicality  of  result.  It  employs  in- 
terest for  the  sake  of  vividness  and  massiveness  of  experi- 
ence; not  for  the  sake  of  pleasantness.  It  iises  pleasantness 
as  a  means;  not  as  an  end. 

The  story  does  not  end  with  the  grammar  grades.  The 
geographical  program  of  the  past  has  aimed  so  little  at  this 
adult  leisure  occupation,  that  it  has  tended  to  stop  at  the 
end  of  the  seventh  grade.  But  looked  at  from  the  point  of 
view  of  purposes,  it  seems  clear  that  this  type  of  experience 
should  continue  throughout  one's  entire  training.  It  is  not 
possible  to  develop  habits  and  appreciations  needed  for 
adulthood  in  the  first  seven  grades,  and  then  leave  them  in 
storage  unused  for  years  until  taken  by  up  the  adult.  They 
will  not  be  there.  The  only  practicable  way  is  for  high 
school  and  college  to  continue  this  indirect  observational 
experience  through  readings  appropriate  to  their  higher 
levels  of  mental  maturity.  There  will  be  increased  atten- 
tion to  forces,  the  subtler  relations,  and  general  principles. 
But  mere  verbal  didacticism  apart  from  essential  contacts 
with  reaHty  is  no  more  appropriate  for  these  levels  than 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION  237 

for  the  lower;  and  will  no  more  lead  to  the  adult  habits 
desired.  A  habit  is  to  be  acquired  in  the  way  it  is  later  to 
be  exercised.  If  life-long  observation  of  the  practical  reali- 
ties of  the  world  is  lo  be  the  habit,  then  during  adolescent 
years  it  is  a  continuing  observation  of  concrete  realities 
that  will  develop  the  habit.  The  thing  that  is  to  be  con- 
tinuous throughout  life  should  obviously  be  continuous 
throughout  education. 

The  limitations  of  space  forbid  discussion  here  of  the 
reading  programs  of  history  and  of  science.  But  for  both, 
there  is  the  same  major  purpose,  and  controlling  principles. 
The  present  ferment  in  both  fields  presages  far-reaching 
changes.  The  studies  have  not  been  organized  as  conscious 
means  of  training  for  this  intellectual  leisure  occupation. 
The  purpose  itself  is  yet  scarcely  recognized  as  legitimate. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  literature, .  in  the  narrower  sense. 
Since  we  are  here  dealing  with  the  leisure  occupation  of 
world-observation  through  reading,  good  literature  for  the 
purpose  is  obviously  that  which  presents  adequate  and 
effective  vicarious  opportunity.  To  be  complete  it  is  to 
provide  not  only  for  effective  visualization  but  also  for 
emotional  reactions  in  the  reader  like  those  of  the  original 
observer  and  writer.  The  canons  of  literary  discourse  aim 
simply  at  effectiveness  in  the  indirect  or  language-obser- 
vation method  of  viewing  and  experiencing  reality. 

Now  for  developing  the  leisure  occupation  here  dis- 
cussed, the  literature  to  be  selected  is  that  which  will  give 
the  widest  and  fullest  and  most  effective  possible  revela- 
tion of  the  world  as  a  whole  in  its  multifarious  divisions 
and  aspects.  Any  selection  will  be  chosen  not  upon  the 
basis  of  literary  form  or  structure;  or  nationality  of  the 
writer;  or  language  in  which  he  originally  wrote;  or  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived;  or  recency  of  the  selection;  or  fame 
of  the  author.  It  is  simply  a  question  of  whether  it  presents 


238  THE  CURRICULUM 

a  clear  window  through  which  one  can  look  out  upon  ex- 
istence. If  it  does  not,  then  it  matters  not  how  famous  the 
author,  or  how  difficult  the  selection,  or  what  the  wealth 
of  footnotes,  it  cannot  be  good  for  the  purpose  here  de- 
fined. 

This  has  profound  significance  for  the  curriculum.  In 
the  past  we  have  tended  to  be  provincial  in  our  selec- 
tions. The  usual  course  of  study  in  grammar  grades  and 
high  school  tends  to  include  only  the  literature  of  English 
and  American  writers  and  to  reveal  little  more  than  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  and  America;  and  little  that  is  recent.  The 
traditional  courses  have  not,  and  have  not  consciously  at- 
tempted, to  present  any  adequate  revelation  of  Russia, 
Switzerland,  Norway,  Japan,  Brazil,  and  most  of  the  other 
regions  of  the  earth.  The  purpose  has  been  not  so  much 
to  reveal  human  life  the  world  over  as  it  has  been  to  reveal 
types  and  technical  characteristics  of  literature.  When 
special  teachers  of  the  subject  are  asked.  What  is  the  fun- 
damental purpose  in  the  teaching  of  literature?  the  most 
frequent  reply  is.  The  appreciation  of  literature.  Almost 
never  do  they  say  that  it  is  an  understanding  and  appre- 
ciation of  human-kind  and  human  affairs  and  the  general 
setting  of  the  great  human  drama. 

Acceptance  of  this  latter  purpose  must  work  profound 
transformation  in  both  spirit  and  content  of  the  literature 
curriculum.  Selections  will  be  chosen  for  their  content- 
value.  They  will  aim  at  the  greatest  possible  width  of  vision, 
historical  perspective,  and  depth  of  insight.  The  curriculum 
will  draw  upon  the  literatures  of  all  lands.  For  the  purpose 
here  stated,  good  translations  are  on  par  with  English  and 
American  selections.  The  books  of  Homer,  Virgil,  the  Old 
Testament,  Dante,  Balzac,  Maeterlinck,  Bjornsen,  Freytag, 
Fabre,  Sienkiewicz,  and  Tolstoy  must  be  considered  por- 
tions of  the  total  revelation  that  are  just  as  vital  and  essen- 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION         239 

tial  as  those  of  Shakespeare,  Scott,  Dickens,  Tennyson, 
Stevenson,  or  Joseph  Conrad. 

The  purpose  demands  catholicity  of  theme.  The  Htera- 
ture  should  reveal  war,  personal  adventure,  love,  brigandage, 
philanthropy,  religion,  travels,  poverty,  family  life,  com- 
merce, agriculture,  industry,  transportation,  government, 
the  struggle  with  nature  and  with  disease,  conflicting  social 
classes,  the  labors  of  science  and  technology;  and  the  other 
major  ingredients  of  human  existence.  As  literature  rings 
the  changes  upon  these  things  for  different  historical 
periods  and  in  different  portions  of  the  world,  its  field  is 
interminable  and  presents  material  for  a  rich  and  satisfying 
lifelong  leisure  occupation.  It  is  the  business  of  early  edu- 
cation to  start  youth  upon  this  inspiring  program;  to  bring 
him  to  love  it  as  he  loves  the  simpler  visual  drama  upon  the 
stage  or  screen;  to  develop  habits  in  this  field  that  are  satis- 
fying and  permanent  for  the  intellectual  illumination  of  a 
life-time. 

For  the  purposes  mentioned,  men  need  to  use  literature 
of  different  types  and  structures;  but  this  does  not  require 
understanding  of  the  technique  of  literary  types  and  struc- 
tures. A  man  can  use  a  watch  for  the  human  purposes  of 
telling  time  without  knowing  the  technique  of  the  mechan- 
ism. In  the  same  way,  he  can  use  literature  for  securing  the 
revelation  to  which  we  have  referred  without  knowing  how 
it  is  made. 

The  reading  should  be  like  witnessing  a  play  at  the  the- 
ater. The  play  presents  an  illusion  of  human  life.  All  that 
the  spectator  wants  is  this  illusion.  The  more  complete  the 
illusion,  the  more  successful  the  play.  The  man  need  know 
nothing  about  the  various  devices  that  were  employed  ^by 
the  playwright  in  producing  the  effects.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  more  he  knows  about  the  tecfhnique  of  se.curing 
effects  and  the  more  he  sees  the  stage  machinery,  the  less  is 


240  !THE  CURRICULUM 

the  play  a  real  illusion  of  life.  It  becomes  but  a  tissue  of 
technical  devices.  The  knowledge  of  the  technique  not  only 
does  not  further  the  fundamental  purpose  of  the  play,  it 
actually  interferes  and  prevents.  In  the  same  way,  an  undue  ^ 
consciousness  on  the  part  of  the  reader  as  to  technical  liter- 
ary machinery  not  only  does  not  further  the  fundamental 
purposes  of  the  reading,  but  may  actually  hinder. 

Should  the  literary  selections  used  for  educational  pur- 
poses be  diflScult?  No,  else  clearness  and  vividness  and  im- 
mediacy of  impression  were  not  literary  virtues.  The  more 
the  literature  facilitates  the  vision  itself  and  the  less  it  calls 
attention  to  itself  the  more  suitable  it  is  for  the  purposes. 
It  is  simply  to  say  that  a  window  of  such  clear  glass  that  the 
glass  itself  is  not  seen  is  better  for  the  purposes  of  vision  than 
one  which  calls  attention  to  itself.  Or  to  resume  our  other 
illustration,  the  play  upon  the  stage  should  be  so  written 
and  presented  as  to  involve  no  difficulty,  no  confusion,  few 
or  no  allusions  to  things  not  generally  known  by  the  audi- 
ence. The  witnesses  must  be  able  to  take  in  the  action  as 
rapidly  as  it  is  presented.  The  play  that  fails  is  one  that  is 
obscure,  confused,  makes  allusions  to  things  that  are  not 
understood,  or  presents  other  types  of  difficulty.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  the  literature  which  is  used  for  inducing  experi- 
ence in  the  reader  should  be  of  the  same  clear  character. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  reading  should  be  easy,  rapid,  inter- 
esting, so  that  much  ground  will  be  covered  within  the  avail- 
able time  and  also  so  that  it  can  be  done  chiefly  because  of 
inner  motive.  We  cannot  expect  adults,  even  trained  adults, 
to  read  things  as  leisure  occupations  which  require  constant 
or  even  frequent  references  to  dictionaries,  handbooks,  or 
notes  at  the  end  of  the  volume.  Children's  natures  are  even 
less  adapted  to  any  such  machine-method  of  grinding 
through  a  piece  of  literature.  In  proportion  as  the  thing 
is  difficult  and  the  reading  slow,  the  pupil  gets  less  of  the 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION  241 

vision  of  things  he  ought  to  see.  It  fails  to  accomplish  its 
purpose.  And  what  is  more,  it  fails  to  develop  within  him  the 
much  more  permanent  and  fundamental  things  of  apprecia- 
tions, and  right  attitudes  of  mind  toward  his  reading,  and 
right  habits  of  using  reading  as  a  richly  fructifying  Ufe-long 
leisure  occupation. 

The  way  to  make  reading  easy  and  rapid  and  pleasant  is 
to  have  much  reading  from  the  first  grade  onward;  an  ever 
increasing  quantity  from  grade  to  grade.  Any  selection  that 
is  so  diflScult  as  greatly  to  impede  progress  thereby  proves 
that  it  belongs  on  a  later  level,  and  is  to  be  prepared  for  by 
readings  that  grade  upward  to  its  degree  of  difficulty.  There 
is  evidence  of  insufficient  preparatory  reading  if  pupils  have 
to  refer  frequently  to  dictionaries,  handbooks,  or  literary 
notes.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  the  readings  are  properly 
chosen,  and  if  they  are  sufficiently  abundant,  such  growth 
of  vocabulary  should  result  that  pupils  should  rarely  have  to 
refer  to  dictionaries  in  their  reading.  If  they  have  difficulty 
with  mythological  and  historical  allusions,  it  means  that 
they  have  not  had  that  wealth  of  mythological  and  historical 
reading  experiences  which  should  precede  and  be  considered 
a  prerequisite  to  the  readings  that  involve  allusions  to  those 
things.  A  mythological  handbook  does  not  and  cannot  give 
one  the  true  flavor  of  mythology  and  therefore  the  true 
spirit  and  significance  of  a  mythological  allusion;  nor  can  a 
historical  reference  book  do  any  better  by  the  historical 
allusions.  These  things  rightly  to  be  known  must  be  met 
with  in  their  proper  settings  and  relationships. 

In  concluding  this  section  let  us  summarize.  For  the 
generality  of  men,  literature  is  primarily  a  thing  to  be 
experienced,  not  a  thing  to  be  studied;  to  be  used,  not  to 
be  analyzed;  to  be  pleasurable  experience  motivated  from 
within,  and  not  tasks  arbitrarily  imposed  from  without. 
The  Uterature  need  not  be  old;  neither  need  it  be  new.    It 


242  THE  CURRICULUM 

need  not  be  by  authors  who  are  dead;  neither  is  there  reason 
for  holding  mainly  to  authors  who  are  living.  It  is  not  pri- 
marily to  reveal  literary  types;  nor  the  characteristics  of 
literary  epochs.  It  need  not  be  only  by  authors  who  have 
already  become  famous.  It  should  be  easy,  rapidly  read, 
and  voluminous  in  amount.  It  should  provide  for  lifting 
the  reader  to  the  higher  levels  of  intellectual  and  aesthetic 
experience.  It  should  begin  with  fullness  in  the  primary 
grades  and  continue  with  increasing  fullness  during  gram- 
mar grades,  high  school,  and  college;  and  so  provide  for 
proper  fullness  during  the  continuing  education  of  ma- 
turity. It  should  present  world-literature,  not  merely  that 
of  the  English  tongue.  It  should  be  all-inclusive  in  its 
revelation,  so  far  as  human  finitude  and  fragmentariness 
will  permit,  rather  than  a  revelation  of  scant  and  partial 
aspects.  It  should  present  the  full  human  drama  and  the 
stage  upon  which  it  is  enacted. 

Along  with  the  provision  of  a  rich  and  appropriate  read- 
ing opportunity,  there  is  the  equally  vital  problem  of  pro- 
viding a  teacher  who  can  rightly  lead  and  guide  this 
reading  experience.  The  qualified  teacher  is  one  who  loves 
reading,  and  who  daily  uses  it  in  the  renewal  of  his  own  vi- 
sion; who  has  world-outlook,  world-sympathies,  a  quickened 
interest  in  the  varied  affairs  of  mankind;  who  values  ex- 
perience  as  a  trainer  of  youth  over  and  above  memorization 
of  facts;  who  is  a  condition-setter  and  an  influence  rather 
than  a  memorization-task-master;  who  knows  the  tastes 
and  interests  and  loves  of  the  child's  unfolding  spirit  at 
each  level  of  maturation  so  well  that  he  can  divine  the 
reading  experiences  most  effective  for  awakening  and  exer- 
cising and  shaping  the  child;  who  can  withhold  his  hand 
in  patience  until  the  time  is  ripe,  and  then  can  subtly  and 
unsuspectedly  crowd  the  experiences  needed  for  the  child's 
unfoldment  as  the  flood-tide,  of  awakening  interest  reaches 


READING  AS  A  LEISURE  OCCUPATION         243 

its  crest  and  before  the  ebb  has  set  in;  who  feels  that  his 
responsibility  is  to  the  children,  —  and  to  the  unfolding 
men  and  women  within  the  children,  —  rather  than  to 
syllabi  and  programs  and  textbooks  and  time-schedules; 
who  knows  how  to  use  system  and  organization  for  effec- 
tiveness and  economy,  and  yet  keep  the  elements  of  spon- 
taneity and  freedom  of  choice  as  to  kinds  and  places  and 
amounts  of  experience;  who  knows  a  better  way  of  manag- 
ing child-experience  than  those  who  say  arbitrarily  to  the 
children  that  at  9.00  o'clock  to-morrow  you  shall  experi- 
ence thus  and  so,  at  9.30  to-morrow  you  shall  experience 
such  and  such  a  second  thing,  at  10.00  to-morrow  your 
experience  shall  be  of  this  third  type,  and  who  thus  me- 
chanically grinds  out  child-experiences  through  days  and 
weeks  and  months  of  dreary  drudgery. 

So  long  has  our  profession  taught  that  we  think  the  only 
way  to  educate  is  to  teach.  We  have  not  sufficiently  known 
that  to  live  will  also  educate.  We  have  been  busy  providing 
the  conditions  for  teaching.  Only  recently  are  we  coming 
to  know  how  to  provide  the  conditions  for  living.  Both 
have  a  place;  and  the  main  thing  is  living. 


PART  VI 

EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL 
INTERCOMMUNICATION 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  MOTHER-TONGUE 

Leaving  aside  the  physical,  man's  activities  are  primarily 
social ;  and  the  mother-tongue  is  man's  primary  instrument 
of  social  intercourse  and  intercommunication.  It  is  also  the 
principal  vehicle  of  his  thought.  It  may  be  said  that  he 
needs  to  use  it  just  well  enough  to  get  on  with  his  fellows. 
If  he  can  understand  and  make  himself  understood,  and  if 
he  can  do  his  thinking  well  enough  in  whatever  quahty  of 
language  he  may  have  developed,  then  nothing  els^^eatly 
matters.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  an  instrument 
which  is  used  almost  continuously  throughout  one's  waking 
hours  for  thought  and  communication,  and  throughout  one's 
entire  lifetime,  should  be  a  good  instrument  for  the  purpose, 
not  a  crude  cheap  one;  and  that  it  should  be  well  understood 
and  appreciated  in  order  that  it  be  carefully  and  intelli- 
gently used.  The  motor-car  that  one  uses  for  recreation  one 
prefers  to  be  of  good  design,  clean,  properly  finished,  quiet, 
smooth-running.  One  is  not  satisfied  with  just  anything 
that  will  run.  One's  clothing  we  feel  should  be  of  good  design 
and  color,  clean  and  not  displeasing  to  others;  not  just  any- 
thing, regardless  of  others,  that  will  keep  one  warm.  In  the 
same  way,  one's  language  which  is  more  intimately  related 
to  one's  life  than  either  of  these  things  and  which  is  a  perma- 
nent possession,  not  one  that  is  changed  frequently,  should 
also  be  of  good  design,  correct,  polished,  accurate  and 
socially  pleasing;  not  just  anything  that  will  crudely  express 
crude  thought. 

It  is  generally  recognized  that  the  major  training  in  the 
mother-tongue  is  obtained  in  one's  general  social  and  Ian- 


248  THE  CURRICULUM 

guage  experience.  In  listening,  talking,  thinking,  reading 
and  writing,  one  uses  the  mother-tongue  of  the  social  class 
in  which  one  moves;  and  thereby  masters  it.  In  the  main  he 
will  rise  without  teaching  to  the  standard  of  correctness 
that  is  set  by  the  language  of  his  social  group.  Here  and 
there  he  may  need  a  little  help  in  the  grammar  and  compo- 
sition, and  somewhat  more  help  in  his  start  in  the  artificial 
language  forms  involved  in  reading,  writing  and  spelling. 
But  if  he  is  to  be  educated  «nly  for  the  language-life  of  the 
group  in  which  he  moves,  this  additional  curriculum  of 
conscious  training  usually  need  net  be  large.  ^^ 

We  feel  however  that  the  language-life  of  moist  social 
groups  is  on  a  lower  plane  than  it  should  be;  that  the  lan- 
guage abilities  are  inadequate  for  the  language  activities 
demanded  by  the  thought  and  action  of  a  thoroughly  human- 
ized democracy.  It  is  felt  that  the  intelligence  demanded 
requires  a  type  of  language  fitted  to  higher,  more  subtle  and 
more  complicated  types  ©f  thought;  and  that  the  social 
agreeableness  and  mutual  understanding  of  all  classes 
within  a  democracy  «lemands  a  moie  or  less  uniform  level 
of  language  excellence  ®n  the  part  of  all  people.  This  does 
not  mean  imiformity  ©f  type;  but  uniform  elimination  of 
crudeness,  or  what  we  may  term  language-ineflSciency. 

Since  the  language-efficiency  of  all  is  to  be  raised  to  a 
level  above  that  of  most,  education  is  clearly  here  to  be  an 
agency  of  social  progress.  It  is  not  only  to  eliminate  the 
language  weaknesses  found  in  children  as  these  are  meas- 
ured in  terms  of  their  adult  group,  but  as  measured  by  a 
standard  above  that  of  their  group. 

Scientific  curriculum-making  has  probably  been  more 
fully  developed  in  this  field  than  in  any  other;  though  as 
yet  only  in  its  beginnings.  Grammar  investigators  in  many 
cities  have  been  discovering  the  actual  grammatical  short- 
comings; and  on  the  basis  of  these,  drawing  up  studies  and 


THE  MOTHER-TONGUE  249 

other  experiences  for  the  purpose  of  eliminating  the  gram- 
matical deficiencies.  Throughout  the  country,  investigators 
are  drawing  up  lists  of  words  commonly  misspelled  or  mis- 
pronounced; the  types  of  composition  weakness;  kinds  of 
errors  commonly  made  in  handwriting,  oral  and  silent  read- 
ing, etc.  These  are  diagnoses  of  conditions  by  way  of  dis- 
covering the  particular  objectives  of  conscious  training. 

Beyond  this  point  of  locating  the  objectives,  scientific 
investigations  have  not  yet  gone  far.  The  series  of  pupil- 
experiences  that  are  prescribed  for  attaining  the  objectives 
are  usually  based  upon  nothing  better  than  the  current  edu- 
cational hypotheses  that  have  grown  up  out  of  practice. 

It  is  probable  that  actual  procedure  often  looks  too  ex^ 
clusively  to  the  particular  errors  to  be  prevented  or  corJ 
rected,  and  insufficiently  to  the  deeper  roots  of  those  errors! 
In  correcting  or  preventing  grammatical  errors,  it  is  more 
important  that  one  ardently  desire  to  use  correct  English 
than  that  he  memorize  all  the  necessary  technical  informa- 
tion or  have  all  of  his  errors  pointed  out  to  him.  Unless  edijt- 
cation  can  first  develop  this  desire,  all  other  more  du 
efforts  must  remain  futile.  Education^re  must  therefon 
aim  primarily  at  fundamental  valuations,  appreciations  ol 
good  language,  a  critical  attitude  toward  and  watchfulnc 
over  one's  language,  a  social  ambition  to  use  language  that^ 
is  both  effective  and  agreeable,  a  general  social  sensitiveness 
to  linguistic  errors  and  weaknesses  of  types  that  are  to  be 
eliminated,  etc.  These  are  particularized  objectives  just  as 
fully  as  a  list  of  commonly  misspelled  words;  and  far  more 
fundamental.  But  for  attaining  these  deeper  objectives, 
both  educational  thought  and  technique  are  yet  very  un- 
certain. In  the  discussion  that  follows,  unfortunately  brief 
and  general  because  of  lack  of  space,  we  can  present  prob- 
abilities more  frequently  than  certainties. 

1.  The  first  educational  task  is  to  provide  each  child  and 


250  THE  CURRICULUM 

youth  with  a  rich  and  full  language-life  of  the  type  desired. 
Let  him  hear  as  fuUylispossiBre  the  language  of  the  kind  he 
is  to  use,  and  the  undesirable  kinds  as  Uttle  as  possible.  Let 
him  live  abundantly  in  the  rich  fields  of  rgadiog  experience 
with  language  of  desired  types  flowing  through  his  conscious- 
ness  and   unconsciously   moulding   vocabulary,   sentence- 
forms,   and  language  thought-structures.    Let  him  have 
M  diversified  experience  with  realities  through  dixe.ct,contacts, 
}JY    participation  in  action,  observation,  reading,  etc.,  and  at 
k-vt/^   the  same  time  the  experience  of  verbalizing  his  experiences 
y^jj-v  in  conversation,  discussion,  oral  and  writtgiLJCfi^ort,  both 
jT^  informal  and  formal.    Give  variety,  reality,  responsibility 
and  substantiality  to  the  non-linguistic  experiences  that 
make  up  his  life;  and  provide  the  opportunities  for  the  nor- 
mal language  accompaniment.    Make  clear  and  adequate 
thought  as  to  realities  the  central  feature  of  his  intellectual 
life;  and  language  an  adequate  vehicle  of  this  thought*  The 
education  that  can  provide  these  experiences  will  take  care 
of  practically  all  needed  training  in  English. 

Children  and  youths  mainly  need  opportJinitieS-toJire 
their  language  under  rightly  impelling  conditions  and  cir- 
cumstances. There  has  been  too^^uch_En^lish  i^ac^m^ ; 
not  enough  English  living.  Even  the  overworked  English 
teachers  themselves  admit  that  after  having  obtained  the 
lion's  share  of  the  curriculum  for  the  English,  their  teach- 
ing is  far  from  successful.  And  their  remedy:  We  must 
have  still  more  time.  Give  it  to  them,  and  they  will  soon  be 
asking  for  yet  more.  They  have  command  over  the  ma- 
chinery of  teaching;  but  over  most  of  the  conditions  of  a  full 
language-life,  they  have  no  more  command  than  other  de- 
partments. Language-teaching  is  a  matter  of  adjusting  the 
whole  range  of  educational  experiences,  and  paralleling  them 
with  the  verbal  element.  The  ordinary  English  teaching 
relates  to  only  partial  aspects  of  this  total  experience. 


THE  MOTHER-TONGUE  951 

2.  The  major  training  that  comes  from  Hving  a  language- 
life  that  parallels  and  verbalizes  one's  other  experiences  will 
fall  short  at  many  points  when  not  supplemented  by  con- 
scious training.  Let  an  individual  have  the  richest  language- 
experience,  he  will  be  foimd  making  certain  kinds  of  gram- 
matical errors,  misspelling  and  mispronoimcing  certain 
words,  and  making  other  types  of  linguistic  error.  The  cur- 
riculum of  conscious  training  for  each  individual  will  have 
as  its  end  the  elimination  of  these  errors.  This  means  that 
for  one  pupil  the  curriculum  will  be  long;  for  another,  short; 
all  depending  on  the  length  of  the  list  of  his  errors.  It  means 
that  the  conscious  curriculum  in  English  will  not  be  the 
same  for  any  two  pupils  in  .the  same  class;  that  a  uniform 
EngHsh  curriculum  is  unthinkable.  There  is  no  more  sanity 
in  it  than  in  a  uniform  treatment  of  all  cases  that  enter  a 
hospital. 

A  variety  of  agencies  may  be  enlisted  in  discovering  the 
curriculum  objectives  for  each  pupil.  Fairly  early  in  the 
course  the  pupil  himself  can  be  set  at  the  task  of  drawing 
up  his  own  error-lists  for  spelling,  pronunciation,~"c5Sbord, 
verb-formsT^andwriting,  sentence-structure,  composition- 
structure,  etc.  His  labors  here  need  to  be  brought  to  the 
work-level  as  speedily  and  completely  as  possible.  This 
requires  that  he  be  conscious  of  the  ends  to  be  reached.  His 
own  effort  in  defining  those  ends  is  a  necessary  portion  of 
the  process  of  developing  this  understanding  and  sense  of 
responsibility. 

Pupil-com^niittees  for  each  subject  will  serve  in  relays  in 
keeping  tab  upon  all  English  errors  of  every  type  made  by 
each  individual  of  the  class;  and  make  contributions  to  the 
individual  error-lists  of  each  pupil.  Watchfulness  over  the 
speech  of  others  is  a  more  objective  process  than  the  sub- 
jective watchfulness  over  one's  own  speech;  it  is  therefore 
a  good  preparation  for  self-watchfulness.    It  is  easier  to 


252  THE  CURRICULUM 

develop  a  critical  attitude  toward  errors  when  they  are  seen 
in  others  than  when  seen  in  one's  self;  this  can  then  be  gen- 
eralized and  made  to  apply  to  one's  own  errors.  Such  pupil- 
committee  work  can  be  wholly  unobtrusive,  and  yet  effec- 
tive for  a  variety  of  purposes.  It  is  a  necessary  ingredient  of 
training  the  pupils  who  do  it;  not  merely  a  means  of  re- 
lieving the  teacher  of  diagnostic  labors. 

Where  pupil-errors  go  undiscovered  by  both  the  pupil 
himself  and  the  committees,  the  teacher  will  extend  the  lists 
by  adding  any  others  that  he  may  have  noted. 

3.  After  the  pupil  has  his  list  of  errors,  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  right  forms  to  be  substituted,  the  next  thing  is 
that  he  want  to  make  the  substitutions.  The  pupil  is  the 
only  individual  that  can  do  this.  His  will  must  therefore  be 
awakened.  This  is  not  a  thing  that  can  be  normally  accom- 
plished through  preaching,  persuasion,  threats,  coercion,  or 
setting  of  lessons  and  drill  exercises.  Language  is  a  social 
process;  the  ajja^jiing  is  to  be  secured  through  thoje  social 
stimulations  that  normally  incite  one  to  watchfulness^ver 
his  language,  and  which  produce  chagrin  or  mortification 
when  his  language  goes  astray.  It  is  a  sensitive  linguistic 
conscience,  one  type  of  social  conscience,  that  will  hold 
him  in  the  paths  of  rectitude  and  prick  him  to  effort  at 
return  to  grace  when  he  finds  himself  fallen  into  trans- 
gression. 

To  assert  that  such  linguistic  conscience  is  beyend  chil- 
dren is  but  to  confess  that  one  does  not  know  children.  The 
boy  who  is  chagrined  when  his  teacher  makes  him  use  "big 
words"  and  bookish  English,  is  simply  reacting  td  the  lin- 
guistic conscience  which  at  the  moment  happens  to  rule 
within  the  boy-group  of  which  he  is  a  member.  He  hates  te 
be  laughed  at  —  that  is  to  say,  condemned  — -by  his  fellows 
for  using  a  form  of  English  not  sanctioned  by  the  conscience 
of  his  group. 


THE  MOTHER-TONGUE  253 

The  problem  of  making  a  boy  want  to  use  good  English  is, 
therefore,  a  problem  of  making  his  fellows  exyect  him  to  use 
good  English,  and  condemn  him  if  he  does  not.  The  problem  j 
of  training  the  boy  is  one  of  training  those  to  whom  he  | 
reacts.  It  is  to  reach  him  indirectly.  The  task  is  to  make  the 
society  of  which  he  is  a  part  genuinely  critical  of  his  lan- 
guage. This  is  not  to  say  that  they  must  be  vocal,  and  rudely 
point  out  to  him  his  errors.  This  will  but  awaken  contrary 
reactions  in  him.  It  is  his  consciousness  of  their  unspoken 
condemnation  of  his  faiHngs  that  is  most  effective,  and 
which  should  be  the  usual  thing,  —  his  own  consciousness 
voicing  the  social  conscience  and  the  social  condenmation. 
This  does  not  excite  contrary  reactions  in  him,  but  rather 
fires  him  to  purge  his  language  of  its  faults. 

The  problem,  therefore,  is  how  to  bring  the  whole  class  sin- 
cerely to  condemn  improper  English  in  any  of  its  forms  of 
impropriety.  The  task  appears  to  have  both  positive  and 
negative  aspects.  Noting  the  latter  first,  pupils  are  to  be 
made  critical  of  improper  EngUsh  in  others.  The  pupil- 
committee  tasks  of  drawing  up  lists  of  pupil-errors  in  current 
oral  and  written  expression  is  an  effective  method  of  doing 
this.  One  who  has  had  extended  experience  in  proof-reading, 
or  in  reading  student-papers,  can  appreciate  the  critical 
linguistic  conscience  thereby  developed. 

On  the  positive  side,  there  is  the  problem  of  developing 
clarity,  accuracy,  and  orderliness  of  thinking;  and  the  con- 
sequent parallel  qualities  of  language.  One  so  trained  tends 
to  condemn  slovenliness  and  obscurity  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression. This  positive  program  is  a  matter  to  be  taken 
care  of  by  all  teachers  who  have  to  do  with  thought  as  an 
aspect  of  the  training;  and  this  means  practically  all  depart- 
ments. 

Thus  far  we  have  discussed  mainly  the  expression  side  of 
the  English.    This  leaves  the  problem  of  the  receptive  side 


254  THE  CURRICULUM 

of  language  —  listening  and  reading.  Listening  is  so  com- 
pletely instinctive  that  it  does  not  have  to  be  taught.  The 
way  to  learn  to  listen  is  simply  to  Hsten.  Reading  is  the 
visual  analogue  of  listening.  In  the  purely  visual  part  of  it, 
it  is  not  impelled  by  instinct,  and  requires  careful  setting  of 
conditions  and  stimulations  by  teachers.  But  at  bottom  the 
method  is  the  same  as  for  listening.  One  learns  to  read  by 
reading.  Children  will  listen  and  easily  learn  to  listen  when 
the  things  appeal  to  them;  equally,  after  once  getting  a  little 
start,  they  will  read  and  thereby  learn  to  read,  when  pre- 
sented with  things  that  appeal  to  them.  The  problem  of 
curriculum-making  for  the  single  purpose  of  mastering  the 
mechanics  of  reading  is  mainly  the  provision  of  an  abun- 
dance of  interesting  reading  matter  for  each  grade,  adapted 
to  the  maturity  of  the  pupils,  and  graded  upward  by  such 
easy  stages  that  the  pupil  can  do  abundant  and  rapid  read- 
ing, usually  silent,  without  being  slowed  down  by  difficulty 
of  language  or  thought.  Every  pupil  of  the  first  grade  should 
have  easy  and  continuous  access  to  not  fewer  than  two  or 
three  dozen  appealing  books;  and  each  grade  beyond,  an 
ever-increasing  number.  Teachers  will  then  find  ways  of 
awakening  interests,  stimulating  enthusiasms,  getting  the 
pupils  started  into  books;  and  then  leave  the  children  to 
enter  normally,  and  to  lose  themselves  normally,  in  the 
living  experiences  of  reading. 


CHAPTER  XX 

TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  ^j^ 

What  are  the  specific  mistakes  or  shortcomings  or  forms 
of  arrested  development  that  result  in  our  country  from  a 
lack  of  knowledge  of  foreign  languages? 

If  there  ar.e  no  important  deficiencies  that  result  from 
failiu-e  to  master  one  or  more  foreign  languages,  then  there 
is  no  need  for  including  them  at  public  expense  in  the  cur- 
riculum. If,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  serious  resulting 
defects,  then  the  nature  of  the  deficiencies  will  point  to  the 
foreign  language  training  that  will  prevent  such  undesirable 
results. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  pitfalls  into  which  both  the  protag- 
onists and  the  antagonists  of  foreign  languages  are  prone 
to  fall,  we  must  particularize  the  problems.  What  are  the 
deficiencies  in  one's  performance  of  the  labors  of  his  calling 
that  result  from  lack  of  knowledge  of  foreign  languages? 
This  question  has  to  be  separately  put  for  each  occupational 
class  and  for  each  grade  of  labor  from  the  simplesrroutine 
levels  up  to  the  most  complicated  professional  levels.  Then 
the  questions  continue  through  other  fields.  What  are  the 
defects  in  ciyic  performance  that  are  due  to  an  inadequate 
understanding  of  foreign  languages?  What  are  the  defi- 
ciencies of  personal  hygiene  and  community  sanitation  that 
result  from  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  foreign  languages?  What 
are  the  aspects  of  family  life  that  are  generally  or  frequently 
suffering  because  of  the  inadequacy  of  training  in  foreign 
languages?  What  are  the  shortcomings  in  the  mpral  and 
religious  life  that  are  due  to  an  insufficient  knowledge  of 
foreign  languages?  What  desirable  leisure  occupations  are 


256  •  THE  CURRICULUM 

faulty  or  seriously  insufficient  because  of  a  lack  of  knowl- 
edge of  foreign  languages?  What  are  the  specific  defects  in  4 
our  use  of  our  mother-tongue  which  result  chiefly  or  largely  J 
from  ignorance  of  foreign  languages  and  which  can  be  cor- 
rected most  effectively  and  economically  through  the  mas- 
tery of  such  languages? 

The  problems  need  to  be  particularized  in  another  direc- 
tion. Are  men  to  be  trained  for  a  spe4t;ing  oronly  a  reading 
knowledge  of  the  language?  The  curriculum  foT~EEe~ latter 
purpose  alone  will  be  fundamentally  different  from  the  one 
demanded  by  the  first.  While  reading  will  be  a  large  element 
in  the  first  case,  the  principal  element  must  be  speaking. 
Classes  must  be  small,  meetings  frequent,  and  much  time 
and  labor  given  to  grammar  and  composition.  In  the  second 
case  there  need  be  only  a  little  speaking  in  the  beginning  for 
giving  pronunciation  and  certain  language-imagery.  The 
chief  need  will  be  an  abundant  supply  of  fascinating  reading 
materials,  so  graded  in  degree  of  difficulty  that  after  a  start 
has  been  made,  the  gradient  of  vocabulary,  word-forms, 
sentence-forms,  etc.,  is  so  imperceptible  that  through  full- 
ness of  reading  without  much  help  from  teachers  or  diction- 
aries or  grammars  the  individual  can  attain  reading  pro- 
ficiency. In  this  latter  case  classes  may  well  be  large  and 
class  meetings  infrequent. 

Languages  needed  for  occupational  efficiency 

The  problems  suggested  are  so  numerous  and  complex 
that  we  can  here  touch  upon  only  a  few  of  the  more  funda- 
mental. Let  us  look  first  to  the  occupational  values  of  the 
foreign  languages.  The  occupational  argument  is  the  one 
most  urged  by  our  colleges  in  the  case  of  modern  languages; 
and  the  college  influences  the  lower  schools.  The  argument 
takes  several  forms.  Qne  is  that  all  college  men  and  women 
must  read  the  technicalliterature  of  their  specialties  in  the 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  257 

foreign  languages  in  sufficient  degree  to  justify  the  expend- 
iture of  some  years  of  preparatory  language-training  for  the 
purpose.  Since  the  high  srhnolg  do  not  know  which  of  their  - 
students  are  going  on  to  college,  they  proceed  to  require 
the  foreign  languages  of  everybody;  and  so  far  as  this  voca- 
tional argument  is  dominant,  they  encourage  the  modern 
languages.    The  second  occupational  argument  is  commer-  ^ 
cial  and  clerical.  'Business  houses  need  clerks,  correspond- 
ents and  agents  for  foreign  fields  who  are  thoroughly  convers- 
ant with  the  foreign  languages  involved.    In  other  cases  it  is  ^ 
urged  that  foreign  languages  should  be  taught  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  business  interests  of  immigrant  communities. 

For  the  occupational  argument,  let  us  make  the  matter 
concrete  by  taking  the  case  of  the  teaching  profession.  There 
are  upwards  of  six  hundred  thousand  elementary  and  sec- 
ondary teachers.  As  completely  as  any  other  profession, 
theirs  requires  fullness  of  knowledge,  width  of  outlook,  and 
ability  to  handle  complex  problems.  Now  what  are  the  short- 
comings in  teaching  ability  that  are  due  mainly  to  a  lack  of 
knowledge  of  foreign  languages  .f*  When  one  goes  for  answer 
directly  to  the  teacher's  work  or  to  the  testimony  of  special- 
ists, one  finds  enumerated  many  kinds  of  teaching  defi- 
ciency; but  not  one  of  them  appears  to  be  strictly  and  inevit- 
ably due  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  modern  languages.  As 
one  reads  the  judgments  of  superintendents,  principals, 
normal-school  presidents  and  training-school  directors  as 
to  the  causes  of  teaching  deficiency,  one  does  not  find  them 
mentioning  ignorance  of  modern  languages  as  one  of  the 
causes.  If  it  were  a  major  source  of  weakness,  or  even  mod- 
erately important,  it  would  be  discovered  by  some  of  them. 

In  a  former  chapter  we  discussed  the  need  of  the  workers 
in  any  field  keeping  abreast  of  progressive  technical  dis- 
coveries and  developments  anywhere  throughout  the  world. 
Education  is  a  field  of  the  widest  kind  of  experimentation  in 


258  THE  CURRICULUM 

all  progressive  countries.  The  teacher  therefore  should 
obtain  ideas  concerning  any  important  advance  in  educa- 
tional thought  or  technique  wherever  it  is  being  made, 
whether  in  the  United  States,  in  Canada,  in  Great  Britain, 
France,  Germany,  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Switzer- 
land, Italy,  Russia,  Japan,  Argentina,  Chile,  Brazil,  Aus- 
tralia or  New  Zealand —  to  mention  countries  where  prog- 
ress is  being  made.  Also  the  teacher  needs  the  professional 
stimulation  and  width  of  outlook  that  comes  from  feeling 
himself  a  membpi;»^of  the  world-wide  professional  group. 
This  can  result  onlyfroiE  vital~c6ntacts,  mainly  through 
socializing  reading,  with  the  profession  throughout  the 
world. 

Another  equally  valid  statement  is  that  they  should  em- 
ploy economical  methods  in  securing  this  technical  and 
socializing  information.  Time  and  money  at  present  are 
needed  for  so  many  things  that  they  must  not  be  wasted 
where  more  economical  methods  can  be  found.  And  what 
is  more,  the  technical  and  social  needs  require  that  the 
things  be  carried  through  effectively  and  not  in  a  perfunc- 
tory and  slip-shod  manner.  With  these  generally  admitted 
presumptions  in  mind,  let  us  look  at  the  situation. 

There  are  two  conceivable  ways  of  accomplishing  this 
aspect  of  teacher-training.  One  method  is  to  teach  the  lan- 
guages of  all  of  the  countries  enumerated  —  about  ten  lan- 
guages in  all  —  then  to  expect  the  teachers  in  training,  in 
colleges  and  normal  schools,  to  get  their  technical  and 
socializing  information  from  the  reading  of  the  original 
literature  in  the  various  languages;  and  further  to  expect 
them  in  some  yet  undiscovered  way  to  secure  the  current 
literature  of  these  various  lands  in  the  towns  where  they 
teach  and  look  through  it  in  order  to  find  the  portions  that 
can  be  helpful  for  the  purposes  enumerated.  The  other  pos- 
sible plan  is  that  which  for  some  years  has  been  developing 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  259 

in  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  namely,  the  issu- 
ance of  specially  prepared  bulletins  which  present  in  English 
the  selected  aspects  of  educational  developments  in  the 
various  countries  of  the  world.  A  few  of  the  titles  are  illus- 
trative:— 

1.  Some  suggestive  features  of  the  Swiss  School  System. 

2.  Educational  system  of  rural  Denmark, 

3.  The  folk  high  schools  of  Denmark. 

4.  The  Montessori  system  of  education. 

5.  German  Industrial  Education  and  its  lessons  for  the  United 
States. 

6.  Educational  system  of  China  as  recently  reconstructed. 

7.  Latin-Americaa  universities  and  special  schools. 

8.  The  training  of  teachers  in  England,  Scotland  and  Germany. 

9.  The  auxiliary  schools  of  Germany. 

10.  Secondary  Schools  of  Central  America,  South  America,  and 
the  West  Indies. 

11.  Some  foreign  educational  surveys. 

12.  Demand  for  vocatioual  education  in  the  countries  at  war. 

While  this  work  of  the  Bureau  is  not  yet  sufficiently  devel- 
oped, it  already  goes  much  beyond  the  demands  of  the  pro- 
fession in  general  for  the  technical  and  socializing  informa- 
tion. Let  there  be  a  widespread  and  clearly- voiced  demand 
for  a  still  more  adequate  bulletin  literature,  and  the  Bureau 
can  soon  supply  all  professional  needs.  It  will  be  necessary 
to  employ  a  few  specialists  each  of  whom  has  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  needs  of  teachers  in  our  own  coimtry  and 
an  equally  thorough  knowledge  of  the  educational  condi- 
tions in  the  foreign  land  upon  which  he  is  to  report.  The 
knowledge  of  the  foreign  language,  the  foreign  education, 
and  its  professional  literature,  needs  largely  to  be  acquired 
by  these  specialists  upon  the  grounds.  It  is  by  living  within 
a  foreign  land  at  least  half  the  time  and  as  a  life-long 
vocation  that  such  workers  will  be  enabled  to  give  effective 
examination  to  all  of  the  work  that  is  to  be  reported  upon; 


260  THE  CURRICULUM 

and  to  make  effective  choice  of  just  the  things  that  American 
teachers  need.  Only  through  vital  contacts  with  both  sides 
can  investigators  make  rational  selection  of  technical  facts; 
or  prepare  effective  socializing  readings. 

The  foreign  language  method  is  highly  expensive  in  time 
and  money.  And  for  the  two  professional  purposes  men- 
tioned, except  in  the  case  of  a  few  specialists,  it  is  wholly 
ineffective.  To  teachers  in  general  the  foreign  literature  is 
inaccessible;  it  is  not  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  their 
needs;  it  is  voluminous,  discursive,  fragmentary,  confused. 
Teachers  have  not  time  to  read  a  tenth  of  our  own  over- 
discursive  professional  literature,  much  less  that  of  foreign 
lands.  They  scarcely  have  time  to  read  the  latter  when  it  is 
carefully  selected  and  organized  for  them  by  specialists 
familiar  with  their  needs,  and  put  into  English. 

This  is  not  to  deny  the  necessity  of  the  foreign  languages 
for  a  few  hundred  professional  research  workers.  Quite  ob- 
viously those  engaged  in  searching  through  the  literature  of 
foreign  countries  for  the  sake  of  finding  the  technical  or 
other  information  needed  for  immediate  application  or  for 
dissemination  through  our  own  country  must  have  the  lan- 
guages of  the  countries  from  which  the  facts  are  drawn.  This 
justifies  the  foreign  languages  for  strictly  professional  pur- 
poses for  perhaps  one  in  a  thousand.  It  is  too  expensive  a 
method  to  require  the  same  of  the  other  999  in  order  that 
the  one  be  accommodated. 

In  discussing  the  situation  of  teachers  at  such  length  it 
has  been  our  intention  to  reveal  the  nature  of  the  modern 
language  situation  as  regards  all  of  the  professions.  Let  one 
examine  medicine,  engineering,  finance,  law,  divinity,  archi- 
tecture, music,  art,  journalism,  politics,  and  the  profes- 
sional levels  of  commerce,  banking,  transportation,  agri- 
culture, mining,  etc.  He  will  find  that  the  members  of  £nese 
professions  also  need  technical  and  socializing  information 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  261 

from  all  progressive  countries  of  the  world.   But  they  too 
need  to  use  effective  and  economical  methods.  Each  needs  a  i 
few  highly  specialized  research  workers  who  know  the  for- J 
eign  languages  and  who  can  bring  to  them  in  English  thef 
valuable  things  from  all  lands. 

Let  one  calculate  the  relative  costs  in  either  money  or 
time  of  the  two  plans,  and  the  one  suggested  will  be  found 
the  more  economical  in  a  ratio  of  probably  not  less  than  a  * 
hundred  to  one.  In  degree  of  effectiveness  for  the  profession 
as  a  whole  its  relative  advantages  must  be  even  greater. 

When  one  looks  to  the  rank  and  file  of  farmers,  mechanics, 
miners,  housewives,  milliners,  and  all  others  below  the  pro- 
fessional level,  one  can  discover  reasons  for  vital  contacts 
with  their  occupational  confreres  throughout  the  world. 
We  are  coming  to  be,  and  we  think  we  ought  to  be,  cosmo- 
politan-minded on  all  social  levels.  Men  and  women  there- 
fore of  all  ranks  and  classes  should  read;  but  it  is  obvious 
that  for  effectiveness  and  economy  the  reading  should  be 
in  the  mother-tongue.  It  will  be  a  hard  enough  task  to  get 
it  done  even  through  that  easy  medium.  Unless  specially 
situated,  therefore,  there  seems  to  be  no  occupational 
reason  for  foreign  languages  for  the  millions  of  workers 
below  the  professional  levels. 

It  will  be  argued  that  commerce  has  international  rela- 
tionships which  involve  other  occupational  needs  than  those 
mentioned.  The  large  business  houses  having  contact  with 
foreign  lands  need  correspondents,  agents,  and  clerical 
workers  who  have  a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  language 
of  the  country  with  which  the  house  is  dealing.  When  they 
deal  with  Brazil  their  specialized  employees  must  know 
Portuguese;  when  with  Japan  and  China,  it  is  Japanese  and 
Chinese;  with  Russia,  Russian,  etc. 

In  large  measure  the  foreign  agents,  clerks,  and  corre- 
spondents will  be  native  to  the  country  itself.    So  far  as 


262  THE  CURRICULUM 

native  —  and  the  degree  is  an  increasing  one  —  there  is  no 
training  problem  for  our  schools.  It  is  necessary,  however, 
we  are  told,  to  have  a  certain  percentage  of  native  Americans 
for  this  work,  especially  as  leaders.  They  need  to  be  thor- 
oughly trained  for  the  purpose.  They  need  a  high  degree 
of  proficiency  in  understanding,  speaking,  and  writing  the 
foreign  tongue.  To  be  effective  they  must  know  the  turns 
of  phrase,  the  subtleties  of  expression,  the  idioms  and  every- 
thing that  is  effective  in  making  appeal  to  intellect  and  emo- 
tion within  the  country.  They  must  both  think  and  speak 
in  the  language,  not  translate,  hesitate,  and  talk  like  a  book 
—  or  worse.  Such  proficiency  is  to  be  attained  only  by  liv- 
ing in  the  land  where  the  language  is  native. 

Quite  clearly  this  is  but  a  minute  field  of  specialized  voca- 
tional training.    In  proportion  as  a  field  calls  for  but  few 
workers,  especially  if  the  training  must  be  intensive  and 
thorough,  vocational  guidance  should  see  that  but  few  are 
trained.   It  is  possible  to  urge  that  since  one  in  each  thou- 
I  sand  high-school  students  will  go  into  positions  requiring 
Spanish,  and  since  we  do  not  usually  know  which  is  to  be 
that  one,  we  should  therefore  permit  or  encourage  all  to 
take  the  Spanish.   To  train  the  hundreds  who  do  not  need 
it  merely  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  one  that  does  is  a  highly 
uneconomical  method  of  meeting  the  needs  of  the  one.  And 
it  loses  sight  of  the  needs  of  the  hundreds.    After  public 
education  has  provided  adequate  vocational  training  for  the 
/millions  who  do  not  go  into  this  narrowly  specialized  voca- 
iS  tional  field,  then  it  will  be  time  to  undertake  the  specialized 
"^   I  training  of  the  few  hundreds  who  do. 

Language  needed  for  civic  activities 

What  are  the  defects  in  civic  performance  in  our  country 
that  are  demonstrably  due  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  foreign 
languages  on  the  part  of  the  citizens?  Social  leaders,  polit- 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  263 

ical  parties,  and  newspapers  are  busy,  each  from  its  own 
point  of  view,  in  pointing  out  numerous  social  deficiencies 
and  their  causes.  They  do  not,  however,  point  to  ignorance 
of  foreign  languages  as  one  of  the  important  sources  of  gen- 
erally admitted  civic  inefficiency.  When  so  many  thousands 
of  eyes  are  scanning  the  field,  and  when  they  are  so  often 
rendered  acute  by  self-interest,  it  is  not  probable  that  any 
really  fundamental  cause  of  civic  shortcoming  can  escape 
all  eyes. 

In  other  chapters  we  have  referred  to  readings  necessary 
for  developing  national  and  municipal  large-group  conscious- 
ness. It  is  certain  that  the  mother-tongue  is  most  effective 
for  giving  understanding;  for  arousing  emotional  responses; 
and  for  developing  sympathetic  attitudes  of  mind.  But 
when  we  look  to  the  international  situation,  the  problem  is 
different.  Man  needs  also  to  read  for  world-democratic  sym- 
pathies and  understandings.  Is  the  English  the  only  lan- 
guage that  we  need  for  the  purpose? 

There  are  two  conceivable  ways  of  entering  into  world- 
experience.  The  foreign  language  advocates  present  one  of 
these.  We  do  not,  they  say,  rightly  enter  into  the  experi- 
ences of  other  peoples  unless  we  think  their  experience  in 
the  same  language-terms  in  which  they  think  that  expe- 
rience. Rarely  or  never  do  they  carry  out  their  argu- 
ment to  its  logical  conclusion.  It  contains  the  implication 
that  we  should  learn  the  languages  of  the  nations  through- 
out the  earth.  Naturally  the  deprovincialization  would  be 
most  effectively  brought  about  through  learning  those  of 
the  largest  nations  in  case  only  a  portion  could  be  covered. 
The  most  important  languages,  therefore,  for  the  purpose 
would  be  Russian,  Spanish,  Chinese,  Portuguese,  Hindu- 
stani, German,  and  French.  These  with  English  would  per- 
haps sufficiently  cover  the  earth.  It  must  be  observed  that 
the  thing  wanted  is  a  planetary  consciousness,  not  a  mere 


264  THE  CURRICULUM 

French  one  from  learning  French,  or  German  one  from 
learning  German,  or  Roman  one  from  learning  Latin.  If 
/foreign  languages  are  the  necessary  means  for  this  purpose, 
[clearly  the  ends  cannot  be  reached  through  the  study  of 
just  one  foreign  language,  or  even  two. 

The  alternative  method  is  reading  the  history  of  nations 
in  the  English  tongue  and  the  literature  of  nations  in  good 
English  translations.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  human  experience 
in  its  fundamentals  is  much  the  same  the  world  over,  differ- 
ing only  in  details  and  proportions.  It  can  be  expressed 
about  equally  well  by  any  of  the  world's  developed  lan- 
guages. The  basic  thing  is  not  the  language  but  the  experi- 
ence in  the  mind  of  the  writer  upon  the  one  hand,  and  the 
reconstructed  experience  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  upon 
the  other.  It  matters  little  what  system  of  symbols  is  em- 
ployed in  the  transmission  of  this  experience  from  the  one 
to  the  other;  or  whether  it  starts  in  one  language  and  through 
translation  arrives  in  another.  The  only  thing  that  counts 
is  adequacy  of  reconstruction  of  the  experience.  Emerson 
once  said:  "I  should  as  soon  think  of  swimming  across  the 
Charles  River  when  I  wish  to  go  to  Boston  as  of  reading  all 
my  books  in  the  original  when  I  have  them  rendered  for  me 
in  my  mother-tongue." 

Foreign  languages  needed  for  family  life 

It  is  obvious  that  under  normal  conditions  the  mother- 
tongue  is  all  that  is  needed  for  family  life. 

We  have  a  serious  problem,  however,  in  the  case  of  immi- 
grant populations,  the  adults  of  which  bring  a  foreign  tongue 
to  our  country,  while  the  children  grow  up  within  an  Eng- 
lish language  atmosphere.  The  immigrants,  in  most  in- 
stances, are  laborers.  They  often  use  a  corrupt  variety  of 
their  native  tongue.  They  are  not  greatly  familiar  with  the 
literature  of  their  own  land.  Their  social  status  often  causes 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  265 

them  to  be  looked  down  upon  by  the  native  population;  and 
their  language  also.  Children  growing  up  within  an  Ameri- 
can atmosphere  unconsciously  adopt  the  American  attitude 
toward  their  ignorant  parents.  They  lose  respect  for  their 
parents  and  for  the  parental  tongue.  They  drift  prematurely 
away  from  the  parental  influences.  This  family  disintegra- 
tion is  often  highly  disastrous  to  the  children;  and  destruc- 
tive of  cherished  parental  hopes. 

The  disintegration  is  due  to  many  factors.  But  language 
being  our  major  social  bond,  one  of  them  certainly  is  the 
lack  of  a  common  language.  Children  decline  to  use  a 
despised  language;  and  the  parents  are  not  sufficiently 
plastic  to  take  on  that  of  their  children.  A  partial  allevia- 
tion could  be  produced  by  bringing  the  children  to  respect 
the  parental  tongue.  This  could  best  be  accomplished  by 
having  the  children  read  the  stimulating  literature  of  that 
tongue.  While  the  basic  language  of  all  American  schools 
should  be  English,  in  an  ItaHan  community  the  children 
might  well  be  brought  also  to  read  the  interesting  literature 
of  Italy;  in  a  Polish  community,  that  of  Poland;  in  a  Hun- 
garian community,  the  literature  of  Hungary.  The  children 
will  come  to  respect  the  language  which  the  school  respects 
and  which  the  literature  reveals  to  them  as  a  high  and  hon- 
orable tongue. 

If  education  here  will  look  accurately  to  the  social  results 
to  be  aimed  at  and  include  nothing  not  demanded  by  such 
results,  the  task  ought  not  to  be  a  difficult  one,  nor  to  con- 
sume any  large  amount  of  time.  A  reading  knowledge  is 
all  that  the  school  need  concern  itself  with.  The  children 
will  get  their  speaking  practice  in  their  homes.  The  latter 
may  not  be  grammatically  accurate.  But  training  must 
always  be  related  to  purposes.  In  this  case  the  children  are 
to  be  brought  to  respect  the  language  of  their  parents.  If, 
therefore,  the  parents  speak  a  rather  ignorant  type  of  the 


266  THE  CURRICULUM 

language,  the  less  the  attention  of  the  children  is  called  to 
this,  the  better  for  all  concerned.  This  will  eliminate  the 
necessity  of  teaching  the  grammar,  composition,  and  the 
other  things  that  require  time. 

The  schools  will  only  take  care  of  the  reading.  They 
need  an  abundance  of  the  most  fascinating  stories  obtain- 
able in  the  language;  and  so  well  graded  that  the  gradient 
is  imperceptible.  As  children  master  the  mechanics  of  read- 
ing English,  it  will  be  easy  to  master  the  mechanics  of  read- 
ing their  parental  tongue.  There  need  not  be  much  class- 
work —  only  enough  to  introduce  the  social  motives  and 
stimulations.  Their  textbooks  and  supplementary  reading 
books  in  history,  geography,  literature,  etc.,  might  occasion- 
ally be  in  part  in  their  parental  language. 

All  of  the  other  purposes  of  the  training  of  these  children 
are  to  be  kept  in  mind  at  the  same  time  so  that  this  one 
shall  not  be  exaggerated  and  receive  an  undue  proportion 
of  time  or  energy.  Harmonious  family  life  is  but  one  end 
of  many  for  which  these  children  are  to  be  trained.  The 
reason  disappears  in  the  second  generation.  Educational 
inertia  can  then  be  no  justification  for  retention  of  the  lan- 
guage. 

Foreign  languages  and  leisure  occupations 

All  admit  that  the  reading  of  good  literature  is  a  healthy 
and  desirable  leisure  occupation.  This  literature  exists  in 
a  few  ancient  and  in  several  modern  languages.  It  is  gen- 
erally accepted  that  except  for  those  forms  of  poetry  where 
the  effects  are  so  largely  dependent  upon  rhythm  and  other 
sensuous  elements,  a  translation  properly  done  is  practi- 
cally as  good  as  the  original.  It  maybe  better.  But  among 
the  essences  of  leisure  occupations  are  variety,  novelty, 
and  freshness  of  experience.  Stale  experiences  do  not 
satisfy.   In  music,  for  example,  one  likes  to  hear  selections 


TRA.INING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  267 

produced  through  different  media;  orchestra,  band,  piano, 
organ,  voice,  chorus,  opera,  etc.  This  employment  of  dif- 
ferent media  greatly  widens  and  diversifies  the  musical  ex- 
periences and  increases  the  sum  total  of  enjoyment.  In 
literature  likewise,  one  enjoys  different  media.  Literature 
in  the  foreign  tongue  often  brings  a  tingling  of  new  and 
eager  interests  that  is  less  evident  when  the  same  litera- 
ture is  received  through  the  routine  grooves  of  vernacular 
habit. 

This  appears  to  be  a  higher  or  less  sensuous  form  of 
spiritual  recreation  than  music.  It  cannot  then  represent 
a  less  justifiable  type  of  leisure  occupation.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  for  some,  who  can  really  use  it  as  a  satisfying 
leisure  occupation,  it  is  even  more  justifiable  and  more 
fruitful.  The  chief  question  that  arises  is.  Is  it  not  too  high 
and  rarefied  a  type  of  recreation  for  people  in  general? 
Clearly  it  can  be  justifiable  only  in  the  case  of  those  in 
whom  it  will  actually  function  as  a  leisure  occupation. 
This  end  cannot  in  any  degree  justify  forcing  the  language 
upon  the  unwilling.  The  literature  probably  can  have 
humanizing  effectiveness,  can  expand  and  enrich  the  per- 
sonality, only  when  it  is  read  with  fully  aroused  emotional 
reverberations.  If  it  is  read  as  a  prescribed  task,  laboriously  *^ 
and  without  zest,  little  of  value  can  come  of  it.  It  is  not  / 
good  as  a  training  experience;  it  will  not  lead  to  the  desired/ 
recreational  habits. 

A  thing  that  is  to  function  as  a  Idsufe  occupation  must  be 
got  as  a  leisure  occupation.  When  this  is  the  dominant  pur- 
"pose  of  learning  a  foreign  language  it  seems  certain  that 
the  learning  should  be  of  the  play  or  interest-driven  type. 
The  teacher's  business  will  be  to  provide  favorable  condi- 
tions, to  lead,  to  stimulate,  to  encourage,  to  supply  the 
contagions  of  enthusiasm.  On  the  side  of  actual  teaching, 
the  teacher  must  give  the  pupils  a  start  in  vocabulai-y,  pro- 


«68  THE  CURRICULUM 

nunciation,  fundamental  grammatical  forms,  etc.;  but  the 
novelty  of  beginning  a  new  language,  if  the  teacher  is  com- 
petent in  finding  the  springs  of  pupil-interest,  fills  this  ini- 
tial learning  with  the  play-spirit.  The  ^tart  having  been 
made,  then  thejess^  teaching  the  better  —  just  as  upon  the 
play-field,  the  less  play-supervision  the  better.  Since  the 
end  is  reading  and  not  speech  or  writing,  the  pupils'  ex- 
perience will  be  mainly  reading  —  at  the  dictates  of  inter- 
est. The  teacher  will  see  that  the  necessary  abundance  of 
attractive  readings  are  at  hand,  and  so  well  graded  that 
pupils  can  mainly  be  emancipated  from  grammars  and  dic- 
tionaries, and  learn  to  read  by  reading. 

When  the  training  is  mainly  through  an  abundance  of 
easy  and  interesting  reading,  the  pedagogy  relates  mainly 
to  leadership  and  control  of  motives.  There  is  no  longer 
justification  for  that  perverse  practice  on  the  part  of  lan- 
guage teachers  of  pouncing  upon  the  hard  spots,  the  un- 
familiar words,  the  difficult  and  irregular  grammatical 
forms  and  relationships;  and  thus  demanding  explanations 
of  just  the  things  which  the  pupil  has  not  got;  ought  not 
to  have  got  at  his  stage  of  learning;  and  ought  not  to  be 
required  to  explain. 

We  find  here  another  example  of  the  fallacy  that  a  thing 
must  be  fully  known  in  order  to  be  known  at  all.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  little  children  listen  to  the  speech  of  their 
parents  and  understand  the  general  drift  of  thought  with- 
out fully  understanding  the  meaning  of  every  word;  and 
without  being  able  to  explain  any  of  tj&e  grammar.  As  they 
grow  older  and  have  fuller  texperience  both  with  things 
and  language,  the  difficulties  disappear  without  thought  or 
effort.  In  the  same  way,  one  can  rfead  the  easy  literature 
of  a  foreign  language,  and  move  in  the  full  current  of 
the  story  without  knowing  the  meaning  of  all  words  met 
with,  and  with  little  knowledge  of  the  grammar.    Let  this 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  269 

experience  continue,  week  after  week,  month  after  month, 
and  year  after  year,  and  the  meaning  of  the  unfamiUar 
words  will  gradually  unfold  without  effort. 

The  present  technique  of  education  is  largely  an  elabo- 
rate technique  of  prematurity.  It  is  attempt  to  teach  pre- 
maturely what  later  would  develop  natiu-ally  through  the 
normal  processes  of  living. 

This  reading  plan  of  recreational  training  does  not  re- 
quire society  to  invest  so  much  money  and  time  in  the 
teaching  of  foreign  languages  as  at  present.  Only  those 
who  like  the  languages  will  take  them.  When  a  pupil's  in- 
terest so  slackens  that  he  will  not  under  normal  stimula- 
tion continue  his  reading,  clearly  he  should  drop  the  study. 
This  will  leave  only  those  who  are  moving  imder  their  own 
power.  A  great  amount  of  teacher-effort  will  not  then  be 
required.  Classes  may  be  large  and  need  not  meet  fre- 
quently; or  if  small  may  have  pupil-leaders.  And  there  is 
the  saving  of  most  of  the  energy  now  given  to  grammar 
and  composition  and  vexation  of  spirit. 

Let  these  conditions  be  brought  about,  and  it  is  the  pre- 
diction of  the  writer  that  there  will  be  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  our  population  who  will  take  advantage  of  this 
recreational  opportunity,  and  effectively  go  through  with 
it;  and  who  will  reap  the  good  harvest  that  must  come 
from  such  non-sensuous  type  of  recreational  experien-ce. 

The  arguments  for  this  type  of  leisure  occupation  are 
not  strong  until  we  become  a  reading  people,  and  read  our 
own  rich  English  literature.  This  is  the  largest  of  the  world's 
literatures.  It  is  the  most  diversified  of  all,  owing  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  dispersion.  It  is  the  most  cosmopolitan.  It 
alone  will  de-provincialize  one.  It  contains  most  of  the 
best  of  all  literatures  ancient  and  modern  in  good  transla- 
tion. Within  itself,  it  employs  many  media  of  expression. 
It  is  a  thing  of  infinite  moods.  Compare  the  military-band 


270  THE  CURRICULUM 

style  of  Kipling  with  the  symphony  orchestra  style  of 
Shakespeare,  the  "big  bow-wow  style"  of  Scott,  as  he 
himself  termed  it,  with  the  "fine  cameo  style"  of  Jane  Aus- 
ten. Let  one  note  the  acid  of  Dean  Swift,  the  geniality  of 
Chaucer  or  Charles  Lamb,  the  thunders  of  Carlyle,  the 
varied  music  of  Tennyson  and  Byron  and  Milton,  the  virile 
grace  of  Stevenson  and  Joseph  Conrad,  and  the  varying 
moods  of  Uncle  Remus  and  Mark  Twain  and  O.  Henry. 
Let  one  note  the  diversified  wealth  of  lyric,  epic,  idyl, 
drama,  novel,  essay,  humor,  oration,  and  religious  or  phil- 
osophical meditation.  Let  one  then  look  into  the  diversi- 
fied media  and  moods  provided  in  translations:  the  English 
Bible,  Homer,  Virgil,  Plato,  Cervantes,  Dante,  Dumas, 
Balzac,  Tolstoy,  Om*r  Khayyam,  Bjornsen,  Ibsen,  Freitag, 
Maeterlinck,  and  Tagore. 

/  There  are  moods  and  media  enough  in  the  literature  of 
the  English  tongue  to  satisfy  the  present  recreational  lit- 
erary cravings  of  most  of  our  population  —  most  even  of 
those  who  go  through  the  high  schools.  In  large  measure 
it  is  now  unutilized  opportunity.  We  believe  that  men  and 
women  should  be  trained  for  foreign-language  recreational 
reading  if  they  will  actually  take  sufficient  advantage  of 
their  opportunities;  but  it  is  absurd  beyond  expression  to 
train  them  for  any  such  opportunities  when  they  do  not 
even  take  advantage  of  the  infinitely  rich  and  diversified 
literature  of  their  own  tongue.  Beyond  the  conventional 
two  or  three  books  of  each,  few  people,  even  those  who  have 
gone  through  high  school  and  college,  have  read  Scott, 
I  Stevenson,  or  Conrad;  or  in  translation,  Bjornsen,  Tol- 
stoy, Balzac,  or  Ibsen.  Much  less  do  those  same  high-school 
and  college  individuals  who  have  had  to  take  foreign  lan- 
guages for  some  undefined  purpose,  use  them  for  recrea- 
tional reading. 

Suppose  a  foreign  language  is  to  be  offered  in  high  schools 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  271 

for  leisure  reading,  which  is  to  be  chosen?  Quite  evi- 
dently it  is  the  one  which  contains  the  largest  and  best  lit- 
erature. In  order  to  ascertain  this  the  writer  took  the  more 
than  seven  hundred  volumes  of  "Everyman's  Library" 
which  aims  to  bring  together  the  best  of  all  of  the  world's 
literatures  in  English  translation.  Since  it  is  a  commercial 
enterprise,  producing  books  at  low  price  which  will  appeal 
to  the  reading  tastes  of  the  population  in  general,  its  se- 
lections ought  to  reveal  the  literatures  which  have  the 
largest  number  of  books  of  general  appeal.  Omitting  those 
of  English-speaking  peoples,  the  number  of  volumes  from 
each  of  the  world's  most  important  Hteratures  are  shown 
in  the  accompanying  table:  — 

French ^  .^. 52 

Greek ; 23 

Russian  and  Polish 14 

Latin 11 

German 11 

Scandinavian 10 

Italian 8 

Oriental  nations 5 

Spanish 3 

Other  book-lists  afford  confirmation  of  these  figures. 
Among  modern  literatures,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
literature  of  France  stands  head  and  shoulders  over  every 
other  literature  except  the  English.  If  only  one  language 
is  to  be  studied  for  the  purpose  here  discussed,  it  should 
doubtless  be  French. 

If  one  wants  a  second  language  for  this  purpose  it  looks 
as  though  it  might  as  well  be  Greek,  Russian,  Scandinavian, 
German  or  Italian.  It  is  unfortunate  that  this  purpose  does 
not  point  more  clearly  to  Spanish.  This  justification  is 
really  needed  to  support  other  valid  reasons  for  studying 
Spanish,  which  in  themselves,  without  this  one,  are  scarcely 
sufficient,  except  in  special  instances. 


272  THE  CURRICULUM 

Foreign  languages  needed  for  proficiency  in  English 

Few  urge  modern  languages  as  aids  to  training  in  Eng- 
lish. There  is,  however,  a  common  presumption  among 
teachers  that  the  large  place  accorded  Latin  is  just^ed 
on  this  basis.  But  the  scientific  curriculum-discoverer 
cannot  proceed  upon  ill-defined  presumptions.  He  must 
know  with  definiteness  and  particularity  just  what  the 
serious  deficiencies  in  our  use  of  English  are  that  are  de- 
monstrably due  to  inability  to  read,  translate,  and  explain 
the  grammar  of  Latin;  and  which  have  no  other  sufficient 
remedy. 

Let  us  locate  these  if  they  exist,  by  a  method  of  elimina- 
tion. In  the  first  place  in  the  English  training  the  most 
fundamental  things  to  be  developed  are:  genuine  desire  to 
uge  good  English,  right  valuations  or  appreciations  of  good 
English,  and  habits  of  watchfulness  against  errors  of  all 
kinds.  These  attitudes  obviously  result  mainly  from  social 
stimulations  and  contagions.  They  are  developed  mainly 
by  living  within  a  language  atmosphere  in  which  good  Eng- 
lish is  spoken  and  read  and  valued.  Language  valuations 
are  almost  wholly  social  matters,  obtained  from  one's  asso- 
ciates chiefly  through  unconscious  imitation.  Latin  has 
A4^t4'  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 

English  training  further  aims  at  the  development  of  the 
habits,  skills,  and  technical  knowledge  involved  in  pro- 
nunciation, choice  of  words,  construction  of  sentences,  use 
of  English  inflections  and  concord,  construction  of  the 
larger  forms  of  discourse,  oral  and  written  presentation  of 
thought,  reading,  spelling,  and  handwriting.  If  one  has 
right  valuations,  and  can  do  all  of  these  things  well,  he 
will  have  a  pretty  secure  control  over  his  English.  In  each 
of  the  things,  deficiencies  are  common.  But  examine  them 
one  by  one,  and  in  most  cases  there  is  not  even  a  remote 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  273 

probability  that  the  deficiencies  are  due  to  inability  to  read 
and  explain  Latin. 

Latin  has  a  slight  value  for  spelling;  though  on  the  whole 
it  is  the  Saxon  words  that  give  most  trouble;  and  if  one 
cannot  remember  the  English  spelling,  how  can  he  with 
greater  assurance  remember  the  Latin? 
J  It  is  urged  for  sentence-construction  and  concord, 
through  aiding  in  one's  knowledge  of  English  grammar. 
Doubtless  it  will  help;  but  it  is  a  tremendously  expensive 
way  to  get  the  little  grammar  really  needed  for  correcting 
some  twenty-five  kinds  of  English  errors.  Those  whose 
English  is  so  seriously  defective  that  they  need  Latin  for 
the  purpose  generally  do  not  get  it;  and  those  who  get  it 
generally  grow  up  in  such  a  cultivated  language-atmos- 
phere that  they  do  not  greatly  need  it  for  the  purpose  men- 
tioned. 

The  argument  simmers  down  to  vocabulary-develop- 
ment. One  needs  Latin,  French,  and  Anglo-Saxon  for 
the  etymology  of  the  five  thousand  words  that  one  uses; 
and  for  the  fifteen  thousand  that  one  reads.  The  presump- 
tions are  two:  (1)  the  etymology  gives  understanding  of 
meanings;  (2)  one  should  learn  the  languages  from  which 
English  comes  to  understand  the  etymology.  There  is 
some  truth  in  both;  and  more  error. 

One  must  note  the  psychology  of  vocabulary-building. 
The  simplest  and  usual  condition  of  vocabulary-learning 
is  v/here  one  meets  with  some  new  thing,  action,  quality, 
or  relation;  and  at  the  same  time  gets  the  word  that  ex- 
presses it.  In  the  presence  of  any  new  aspect  of  reality  one 
is  not  easy  in  mind  till  one  has  the  necessary  word  in  terms 
of  which  to  think  it.  The  presence  of  the  reality  calls  for 
the  word.  When  brought  together  they  associate  so  closely 
as  to  fuse  into  a  single  conception.  The  basic  condition  of 
vocabulary-building  is  contact  with  the  realities.    If  one  is 


274  THE  CURRICULUM 

to  have  a  wide  and  varied  vocabulary  then  the  first  condi- 
tion is  that  he  come  into  vital  contact  with  numerous 
and  varied  aspects  of  reality;  verbalizing  his  experience. 
If,  for  example,  one  would  require  the  vocabulary  of  the 
motor-car  —  limousine,  chassis,  carburetor,  commutator, 
differential,  magneto,  mujffler,  transmission,  etc.  —  let  him 
operate  the  car,  repair  it,  make  adjustments,  consult  hand- 
books for  the  necessary  information,  talk  over  matters  with 
others,  etc.;  and  the  full  vocabulary  will  grow  up  so  easily 
and  naturally  that  one  does  not  notice  how  or  when  he 
acquired  it.  Make  experience  central  and  the  vocabulary  will 
take  care  of  itself.  If  one  would  acquire  the  vocabulary  of  a 
farm,  a  steel-mill,  a  hospital,  the  game  of  golf,  a  science, 
a  religion,  or  anything  else,  material  or  immaterial,  the 
principle  holds.  Let  one  study  Latin  till  he  is  gray,  he 
will  find  that  for  vocabulary-building  it  is  a  poor  and  pale 
substitute  for  reality. 

The  older  plan  was  to  use  simple  well-known  English 
words  for  explaining  the  meaning  of  the  Latin  vocabulary; 
and  then  to  use  that  Latin  vocabulary  to  explain  the  mean- 
ing of  other  English  words.  It  was  a  matter  of  pouring 
meanings  from  English  into  Latin,  and  then  back  again. 
It  was  to  use  a  small  body  of  meanings  got  from  a  little 
contact  with  reality  to  produce  a  large  body  of  substantial 
meanings  without  any  further  contacts  with  realities.  It 
rfeinds  one  of  the  street-fakir  who  from  an  ounce  of  soap 
produces  three  barrels  of  foam.  There  is  increased  iri- 
descence; and  one  is  impressed;  but  no  increase  of  sub- 
stance. The  schools  of  the  past  were  places  of  words  not 
realities.  It  is  not  therefore  surprising  that  this  primitive 
faith  in  verbal  methods  should  linger. 

And  yet  etymology  has  legitimate  functions  to  perform. 
Let  us  illustrate  some  of  them.  We  have  in  English  some 
twenty  or  thirty  commonly-used  prefixes  borrowed  from 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  275 

the  Latin,  such  as  bi-,  circum-,  contra-,  semi-,  post-,  trans-, 
uni-,  etc.  We  have  another  twenty  or  thirty  more  or  less 
common  prefixes  imported  from  the  Greek:  anti-,  mon-, 
mono-,  pan-,  penta-,  poly-,  iri-,  hemi-,  iso-,  etc.  We  have 
also  some  sixty  or  eighty  suffixes  variously  derived  from 
Latin,  Greek,  Old  French,  and  Anglo-Saxon:  -fy,  -ed,  -hood, 
-tion,  -don,  -ise,  -ize,  -less,  -ish,  -ie,  -kin,  -ling,  -ness,  -able, 
-ly,  etc. 

Now,  it  does  not  really  matter  from  what  languages  these 
have  been  imported.  They  are  essential  portions  of  the 
English  tongue.  They  have  become  completely  natural- 
ized and  they  are  as  much  a  portion  of  the  living  English 
as  its  Saxon  element.  It  is  no  more  necessary  to  study  the 
Latin  in  order  to  get  the  significance  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  English  affixes  than  it  is  to  study  the  ancient  Aryan, 
which  preceded  the  Latin  in  order  to  understand  the  terms 
which  the  Latin  borrowed  from  it. 

Given  favorable  conditions  their  mastery  involves  prac- 
tically no  problem.  Bring  the  children  into  contact  with 
the  actual  realities  in  relation  to  which  the  prefixes  and 
suffixes  have  significance,  call  attention  to  this  significance, 
in  so  far  as  pupils  need  to  be  made  conscious  of  it,  and  the 
work  is  done  without  effort.  For  example,  in  the  mathe- 
matics let  the  children  know  that  hi-  means  two,  as  they 
come  into  contact  with  bi-nominals,  bisections,  etc.;  that 
tri-  means  three,  as  they  come  into  contact  with  triangles, 
tri-sections,  tri-nominals,  etc.  Let  children  meet  with  semi- 
weekly,  semi-annual,  semi-circle,  etc.,  as  verbaHzed  reali- 
ties, and  it  does  not  require  a  great  deal  of  effort  on  the 
part  of  teachers  to  make  them  conscious  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  semi-.  Let  them  come  into  contact  with  both 
reahties  and  diminutives  like  doggie,  lambkin,  duckling, 
hillock,  eaglet,  etc.,  and  the  understanding  is  acquired 
without  thought  or  effort.   This  is  but  to  apply  the  cen- 


276  THE  CURRICULUM 

1  principle  of  reality-teaching  rather  than  verbal-teach- 
ing to  the  vocabulary-building. 

The  roots  or  stems  of  many  English  words  have  also 
been  imported  and  naturalized;  as,  for  example,  dico  or 
dido  in  dictioriy  dictionary^  dictate^  dicturriy  abdicatey  contra- 
dicty  predicty  edicty  interdicty  verdict,  dictatoTy  etc.  Of  these 
root-terms  there  are  several  score  in  common  use  that  prob- 
ably should  be  generally  known;  and  even  a  few  hundred 
that  may  be  known  with  profit  by  those  who  would  acquire 
a  finished  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  English.  Most  of 
the  root-terms  have  been  naturalized  and  are  now  as  much 
parts  of  the  English  as  they  ever  were  of  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
Latin,  or  Greek.  They  are  the  common  possessions  of  any 
language  that  cares  to  adopt  them.  The  meanings  are 
mainly  read  into  the  root-terms  by  associating  them  with 
the  realities  to  which  they  refer.  These  terms  can  be  broken 
out  of  their  English  matrix,  the  generalized  meaning  re- 
vealed, and  then  used  in  the  study  of  families  of  English 
derivatives  that  employ  the  root-terms.  One  can  thus  study 
the  etymology  of  English  without  studying  Latin,  French, 
or  Anglo-Saxon.  Most  of  us  who  have  not  studied  Greek 
appreciate  the  etymology  of  such  words  as  'psychology, 
theologyy  pantheony  biographyy  biologyy  hibliographyy  phi- 
losophy y  pJionography  etc.,  about  as  completely  as  we  appre- 
ciate the  words  from  the  Latin  which  we  have  studied. 
And  we  can  use  the  roots  borrowed  from  the  Greek  just  as 
efficiently  in  analyzing  derivatives. 

In  general,  it  is  not  through  etymological  associations 
that  one  acquires  the  meanings  of  words.  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, the  derivatives  servCy  serfy  servanty  servitory  service, 
servitudey  serviceable y  serviUy  subservienty  etc.  All  come  from 
a  single  root.  A  dictionary  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of 
this  root  will  not  give  one  any  inkling  of  the  finer  nuances 
of  meanings.   The  root-term,  for  example,  does  not  reveal 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  277 

the  subtle  differences  of  meaning  in  servant,  serf,  and  ser- 
vitor; or  between  service  and  servitude.  One  gets  these  deli- 
cate but  vital  differences  through  contacts  with  the  reali- 
ties themselves,  either  immediate  or  imaginative.  One  who 
reads  and  observes  widely  and  accurately  but  who  has 
never  noted  the  etymology  of  these  words  will  acquire  the 
finer  shades  of  meaning  as  completely  as  one  who  is  familiar 
with  the  etymology.  And  if  he  can  get  the  subtler  flavors 
of  words  in  this  way,  surely  he  can  thus  also  get  the  crass 
meanings  of  the  root-terms. 

A  further  question  relates  to  the  technical  terminology 
of  specialists:  biologists,  physiologists,  physicians,  etc. 
The  basic  thing  needed  for  making  them  specialists  is  full, 
varied  and  intimate  contacts  with  the  realities  of  their 
specialized  fields.  At  bottom  they  need  to  know  things,  not 
words.  But  adequate  knowledge  of  things  involves  the 
use  of  words  —  the  improved  vehicles  of  human  thought. 
But  the  reality-method  of  getting  at  the  things  makes  the 
language  aspect  easy.  The  presence  of  the  thing  calls  for 
the  language  necessary  for  thinking  it.  Let  the  young  phy- 
sician once  learn,  for  example,  that  hoema  means  blood;  and 
then  let  his  daily  experiences  involve  such  terms  as  hoema- 
chrome,  hoemabarometer,  hccmacytometer,  hcemaphobus,  hcema- 
tozoa,  hemorrhage,  hemoglobin,  hemoperitoneum,  hemophobia, 
hemoscope,  hemotropic,  etc.,  —  he  will  very  easily  learn  the 
value  and  significance  of  harnia-  as  a  root  word  for  his  tech- 
nical field.  Let  him  read  Greek  literature  for  twenty 
years,  and  he  can  never  thereby  acquire  any  better  under- 
standing of  this  word.  And  he  can  learn  his  other  techni- 
cal terms  in  the  same  way.  Rare  terms  he  will  have  to  look 
up  in  a  dictionary  —  like  ordinary  people.  There  is  always 
a  fringe  of  little-used  words  that  require  the  use  of  the  dic- 
tionary. 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  we  are  here  discussing  but 


278  THE  CURRICULUM 

a  single  phase  of  the  problem.  To  assert  that  a  mastery 
of  Latin  grammar  and  literatm-e  is  not  necessary  for  a  thor- 
ough understanding  and  appreciation  of  English  is  not 
equivalent  to  saying  that  Latin  should  not  be  studied  for 
this  purpose  by  those  who  are  willing  to  employ  this 
method.  Many  of  those  who  appreciate  linguistic  study 
as  recreational  experience  will  be  justified  in  taking  Latin 
for  immediate  and  subsequent  recreational  uses.  As  it 
then  gives  them  a  goodly  portion  of  their  etymological 
background,  it  will  have  accomplished  a  double  purpose. 
It  cannot  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  reality-method;  but 
it  can  substantially  reinforce  it.  Latin  will  then  be  taken 
only  by  those  of  linguistic  appreciation,  with  the  students 
mainly  moving  under  their  own  power.  The  Latinists 
should  then  supply  them  with  the  wealth  of  interesting 
readings  needed  for  the  imperceptible  gradient  of  experi- 
ence that  will  permit  them  to  learn  to  read  the  language  by 
reading  it.  Under  such  circumstances  those  who  want  the 
Latin  can  get  all  that  they  want  without  requiring  too 
much  effort  and  expense  on  the  part  of  teachers  and  school 
systems.  Under  present  teaching  conditions,  the  cost, 
especially  in  time  and  loss  of  other  more  important  things, 
is  usually  disproportionate  to  the  returns. 

Foreign  languages  needed  for  humanistic  experience 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  there  is  an  intimate,  even 
indissoluble,  relation  between  the  classical  languages  and 
humanism.  Before  one  can  rightly  note  the  relation,  how- 
ever, one  must  first  define  humanistic  experiences  in  terms 
of  twentieth-century  life;  and  in  their  particularized  forms. 
This  we  have  tried  to  do  in  some  measure  in  previous  chap-j 
ters.  To  look  with  wide  and  sympathetic  vision  over  alJ 
human  affairs,  near  and  remote,  recent  and  ancient;  td 
enter  freely  and  sympathetically  into  all  worthy  kinds  of 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  279 

human  experience,  directly  through  participation  and  ob- 
servation, and  indirectly  through  conversation  and  lecture 
and  wide  reading;  to  range  with  quickened  mind  through 
the  rich  and  inspiring  fields  of  science  and  art  and  phi- 
losophy and  religion;  to  feel  a  oneness  with  one's  race,  and 
to  be  fired  with  its  highest  aspirations;  to  act  with  one's 
fellows  vigorously,  joyously  and  whole-heartedly  in  the 
cooperative  provision  of  a  full  and  rich  life-opportunity 
for  every  human  being,  —  such  as  these  are  humanistic 
experiences.  Those  experiences  in  which  man  realizes  his 
full  humanity  constitute  the  substance  of  humanism. 

This  is  not  to  give  a  new  definition  to  humanism.  It  is 
but  to  rescue  its  original  one;  and  to  state  it  in  terms  of 
twentieth-century  thought  and  life.  It  is  to  see  that  hu- 
manism is  not  a  thing  of  language  alone;  but  rather  of  the 
full  texture  of  life.  Any  language  in  which  one  can  Uve  and 
think  can  be  the  language  of  humanism. 

In  the  day  of  the  Renaissance,  the  classics  provided 
the  languages  and  much  of  the  thought  of  the  wider  hu- 
manistic experience.  But  vernacular  literatures  have  since 
arisen  which  can  not  only  provide  the  same  experiences,  but 
the  far  wider  ones  of  modern  life;  and  which  also  can 
serve  the  humanistic  needs  of  all,  a  democratic  require- 
ment, and  not  merely  those  of  a  small  leisure  class. 

The  classicists  of  to-day  are  much  concerned  because  of 
an  alleged  attack  upon  humanism.    As  a  matter  of  fact, 
there  is  little  discernible  attack  upon  actual  humanism. 
The  attack  is  only  upon  the  conception  that  only  the  an- 
cient languages  can  serve  in  a  democratic  age  as  the  ve- 
hicles of  humanistic  experience.   One  has  but  to  look  aboub^-^ 
him  to  see  that,  in  spite  of  the  apparent  contradictions  of    / 
war,  the  world  grows  more  humanistic  in  its  conceptions,  / 
aspirations  and  practices.   More  and  more  we  would  bring 
to  all  social  classes  the  varied  and  essential  humanistic 


280  THE  CURRICULUM 

experiences  that  have  hitherto  fallen  only  to  the  lot  of  the 
intellectual  and  social  aristocratic  few.  To  all  we  would 
give  fullness  of  vital  contacts  with  men,  with  nature,  with 
literature  and  history  and  art  and  high  religion.  To  all  so 
far  as  possible  we  would  give  the  far  vision  outward  and 
backward  and  upward.  There  are  aristocrats  and  Philis- 
tines who  are  indifferent  to  this  wide  diffusion  of  human- 
istic experience,  or  who  are  skeptical  of  its  possibility.  But 
in  general  they  are  making  no  active  attack  upon  it. 

It  is  under  the  circumstances  unfortunate  that  classicists 
should  have  the  erroneous  idea  that  humanistic  experiences 
require  the  ancient  vehicles  of  thought;  that  the  world  is  a 
decadent  affair  in  which  modern  languages  are  so  wretchedly 
weak  and  shabby  as  not  to  be  able  to  carry  the  ancient 
experiences;  and  even  that  modern  human  experience  is 
inferior  to  that  of  the  peoples  of  old.  ^  There  is  attack  and 
justifiable  attack  upon  such  pessimism  and  puerility.  The 
attack  however  is  not  because  of  hostility  to  humanistic 
experience.  It  is  brought  by  the  optimistic,  forward-looking 
friends  of  twentieth-century  humanism.  To  them  humane- 
ness and  richness  and  nobility  of  spirit  seem  so  good  for  the 
world  that  they  would  have  these  things  for  all  men  and 
women;  and  therefore  they  would  employ  for  the  purpose 
the  language  of  our  democracy  rather  than  the  ancient  out- 
worn languages  of  the  intellectual  aristocracy. 

The  classicists  have  not  defined  humanism  in  terms  of  the 
essential  reahties.  They  have  defined  it  only  in  terms  of  the 
symbols  of  thought:  of  the  verbal  associates  of  the  older 
humanistic  experience  of  centuries  ago. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  reading  the  ancient  literatures  in  the 
originals  is  not  an  essential  factor  in  developing  humane- 
ness, or  gentleness,  or  richness  and  elevation  and  nobility 
of  thought  and  feeling,  or  high  appreciation  of  aesthetic  art, 
or  of  any  of  the  other  essentials  of  high  charactCT.    The 


TRAINING  IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES  281 

cynical  disbelief  on  the  part  of  the  classicists  of  the  possibil- 
ity or  desirability  of  democratic  diffusion  of  humanistic 
experience  to  all  makes  them  unsafe  defenders  of  actual 
humanism  in  our  democratic  age.  Their  major  effort  is  not 
to  find  means  of  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  such  diffu- 
sion; but  rather  to  retain  an  impossible  vehicle  of  diffusion. 
It  is  the  social-minded  men  and  women  of  to-day  who 
are  the  real  leaders  of  modern  humanism.  A  few  are  lin- 
guists; most  are  not.  Some  are  in  the  educational  profes- 
sion; most  are  in  other  fields  of  labor.  But  it  is  those  whose 
primary  interest  is  in  their  fellow-men  rather  than  in  lan- 
guages, and  whose  fundamental  faith  is  in  mankind  rather 
than  in  symbols,  who  are  to-day  leading  and  guiding  hu- 
manity toward  fullness  of  self-realization. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

SOME  CONCLUDING  CONSIDERATIONS 

In  this  volume  *we  have  tried  to  look  at  the  curriculum 
problems  from  the  point  of  view  of  social  needs;  and  there- 
by to  develop,  in  some  measure  at  least,  the  social  point 
of  view  as  regards  education.  In  a  single  volume,  one  can 
present  but  glimpses  of  a  limited  number  of  the  detailed 
tasks.  Others  of  similar  type  stretch  out  apparently  end- 
lessly before  us.  Our  profession  is  confronted  with  the  huge 
practical  task  of  defining  innumerable  specific  objectives; 
and  then  of  determining  the  countless  pupil-experiences 
that  must  be  induced  by  way  of  bringing  the  children  to 
attain  the  objectives.  We  have  lacked  space  for  discussion 
here  of  the  administrative  problems.  But  let  us  refer  briefly 
to  a  few  of  them. 

The  first  necessary  thing  is  for  our  whole  educational 
profession  to  acqtiire  a  social,  rather  than  a  merely  academic, 
point  of  view.  The  writer  fully  appreciates  the  diflficulties 
in  the  way,  as  may  be  illustrated  by  a  personal  reference. 
Soon  after  the  American  occupation  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
the  writer  was  a  member  of  a  committee  of  seven  appointed 
to  draw  up  an  elementary-school  curriculum  for  the  islands. 
The  members  had  all  taught  or  supervised  within  the  islands 
for  two  or  three  years  and  were  reasonably  familiar  with 
their  peculiar  conditions.  It  was  a  virgin  field  in  which  we 
were  free  to  recommend  almost  anything  by  way  of  meeting 
the  needs  of  the  population.  We  had  an  opportunity  to  do 
a  magnificent  and  original  constructive  piece  of  work. 

And  what  did  we  do?  We  assembled  upon  a  table  in  the 
committee-room  copies  of  the  American  textbooks  in  read- 


SOME  CONCLUDING  CONSIDERATIONS         283 

ing,  arithmetic,  geography,  United  States  history,  and  the 
other  subjects  with  which  we  had  been  famiHar  in  American 
schools.  We  also  assembled  such  American  courses  of  study 
as  we  could  find;  and  without  being  conscious  of  it,  we  mo- 
bilized our  American  prejudices  and  preconceptions  as  to 
what  an  elementary-school  course  ought  to  be.  On  the  basis 
of  these  things  we  made  out  a  course  of  study  for  the  tra- 
ditional eight  elementary-school  grades.  We  provided  the 
traditional  amount  of  each  subject  for  each  grade,  distrib- 
uted them  as  in  American  schools,  and  recommended  Ameri- 
can textbooks  for  the  work. 

The  thing  was  not  adapted  to  the  conditions  within  the 
islands.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  did  not  try  to  adapt  it  to " 
those  conditions — though  we  honestly  thought  that  we  were 
doing  the  thing  needed.  The  difficulty  was  that  our  minds 
ran  so  completely  in  the  grooves  of  traditional  thought 
that  we  did  not  reaHze  the  possibility  of  anything  else.  We 
greatly  needed  something  to  shatter  our  self-complacency 
and  bring  us  to  see  education  in  terms  of  the  society  that 
was  to  be  educated.  We  needed  principles  of  curriculum- 
making.  We  did  not  know  that  we  should  first  determine 
objectives  from  a  study  of  social  needs.  We  supposed  that 
education  consisted  only  of  teaching  the  familiar  subjects. 
We  had  not  come  to  see  that  it  is  essentially  a  process  of 
unfolding  the  potential  abilities  of  a  population,  and  in 
particularized  relation  to  the  social  conditions.  We  had 
not  learned  that  studies  are  means,  not  ends.  We  did  not 
realize  that  any  instrument  or  experience  which  is  effective 
in  such  unfoldment  is  the  right  instrument  and  right  experi- 
ence; and  that  anything  which  is  not  effective  is  wrong, 
however  time-honored  and  widely  used  it  may  be.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  people,  the  Director  of  Education  was  better 
able  to  look  at  essential  realities;  he  cut  the  course  down  to 
six  grades,  unceremoniously  threw  out  irrelevant  materials. 


284  THE  CURRICULUM 

and  without  regard  for  the  time-hallowed  sanctities  brought 
bodily  into  the  course  a  number  of  things  then  far  more  than 
now  regarded  as  superficial  and  plebeian,  such  as  shop- 
work,  cooking,  sewing,  weaving,  rug-making,  etc.  We  were 
properly  horrified. 

We  needed  something  that  would  shake  us  out  of  the 
grooves  and  which  at  the  same  time  was  violent  enough  to 
obliterate  them,  and  set  thought  free.  Attention  is  called 
to  this  personal  experience  because  of  a  belief  that  it  is  an 
example  of  a  wide-spread  obstructive  influence  in  American 
education  to-day.  A  large  portion  of  our  profession  appears 
to  need  something  that  will  lift  them  out  of  the  grooves 
of  routine  traditional  thinking  —  or  rather  out  of  an  imita- 
tion that  is  not  thought — and  which  will  so  obhterate  the 
grooves  that  their  minds  will  be  free  to  think  out  new  prob- 
lems. For  in  the  field  of  the  curriculum,  the  whole  world 
to-day  is  presented  with  a  magnificent  opportunity  for  origi- 
nal constructive  work.  The  present  social  debdcle  demon- 
strates the  inadequacy  of  types  of  education  upon  which  we 
have  relied  in  the  past. 

Some  of  the  things  necessary  for  the  liberation  of  thought 
have  been  attempted  in  these  chapters.  They  are  written 
with  the  assumption  that  we  must  establish  fundamental 
principles  and  employ  scientific  methods  in  formulating 
systems  of  training.  All  of  the  advance  in  the  curriculum 
field  at  present  —  and  there  is  much  in  all  progressive  school 
systems  —  is  pioneer,  experimental,  suggestive.  In  these 
chapters  we  have  tried  to  formulate  some  of  the  curriculum- 
thought  that  is  in  a  state  of  ferment  throughout  the  field. 
There  is  nothing  recommended  here  but  what  is  actually 
being  done  somewhere  and  in  some  measure  by  practical  and 
progressive  school  men  and  women. 

At  the  present  stage  of  developing  courses  of  training  it 
is  more  important  that  our  profession  agree  upon  a  method 


SOME  CONCLUDING  CONSIDERATIONS         285 

of  curriculum-discovery  than  that  we  agree  upon  the  de- 
tails of  curriculum-content.  'The  writer  has  been  chiefly- 
interested  in  this  volume  in  suggesting  a  method,  and  fun- 
damental points  of  view.  The  reader  may  or  may  not  agree 
with  the  conclusions.  That  is  of  little  consequence.  The 
main  thing  at  present  is  that  each  find  scientific  principles  -^ 
and  methods  of  curriculum-formulation  which  he  can  him- 
self accept;  and  which  will  make  thought  the  basis  of  cur- 
riculum-making rather  than  imitation.  Without  such  prin- 
ciples at  the  present  moment,  one  is  like  a  ship  in  the  wide 
seas  without  chart,  compass,  or  stars. 
*  Our  professional  vision  must  be  greatly  in  advance  of  our 
practice.  We  shall  move  forward  only  step  by  step  with  feet 
on  solid  earth;  but  we  must  be  able  to  see  far  beyond  our 
immediate  next  steps  in  order  that  they  be  taken  in  the 
right  direction.  The  work  of  our  profession,  more  than  that 
of  any  other,  requires  foresight  and  far  sight.  For  this  rea- 
son, in  our  discussion  of  ends  and  means,  we  have  not  looked 
merely  to  what  is  practicable  next  year,  or  even  five  years 
hence.  Often  we  have  discussed  matters  that  are  to  be  de- 
veloped only  through  a  slow-moving  program  covering  a 
long  series  of  years. 

A  superintendent  who  recently  listened  to  the  suggestions 
made  in  this  volume  presented  this  question:  "What  should 
a  superintendent  actually  do  by  way  of  improving  the  cur- 
riculum in  his  schools?" 

To  begin  with,  he  should  accept  the  situation  in  his  city 
as  it  is.  He  should  look  upon  it  as  the  normal,  and  therefore 
proper,  result  of  the  institutional  growth-influences  that 
have  been  operative  in  that  city.  He  should  therefore  ac- 
cept the  conditions  as  right  and  good  in  the  sense  that  they 
represent  a  growth-stage,  conditions  being  what  they  are, 
through  which  the  city  must  pass  before  it  can  arrive  at  its 
next  normal  stage  of  healthy  growth.  He  should  expect  the 


286  THE  CURRICULUM 

curriculum  to  change  and  grow  from  year  to  year,  rapidly 
or  slowly.  Naturally  he  would  like  to  have  rapid  growth;  but 
he  would  have  to  accept  conditions  as  they  are.  The  only 
normal  thing  is  for  the  growth  to  continue  with  a  rapidity 
that  is  determined  by  the  conditions  within  the  city.  This 
would  mean  in  one  city  rapid  growth;  in  another,  slow  — 
at  least  until  this  could  be  normally  accelerated. 

Even  if  given  a  free  hand,  he  should  attempt  no  abrupt 
reorganization  of  the  work,  nor  any  sudden  reformulation 
of  the  studies.  In  other  words,  he  should  not  attempt  to 
accelerate  the  growth  beyond  that  which  can  be  normal  and 
healthy;  and  permanent  after  it  is  once  accomplished.  The 
details  of  the  work  have  to  be  carried  out  by  teachers  who 
have  been  trained  both  in  their  academic  courses  and  in 
their  professional  experience  to  certain  types  of  work.  He 
could  expect  teachers  to  assimilate  only  those  suggestions 
for  improvement  which  do  not  mean  radical  departure  from 
what  they  have  been  accustomed  to.  But  after  having  taken 
these  first  steps,  he  could  expect  them  then  to  be  prepared 
to  go  a  little  farther;  and  then  later,  to  take  other  steps  in 
advance.  The  readjustments  in  the  teacher's  thought  and 
practice  must  be  gradual.  This  is  true  also  of  school  board 
and  community.  They  are  not  prepared  for  any  type  of  re- 
organization that  greatly  differs  from  that  with  which  they 
are  familiar.  Like  the  teachers  they  can  shift  only  gradually. 
'All  must  be  a  growth-process.  And  what  is  more,  the  super- 
intendent would  find  that  his  own  ideas  were  insufficiently 
worked  out  in  detail  for  directing  reformulative  procedure 
which  broke  in  any  sudden  manner  from  the  old.  He  would 
have  to  think  out  innumerable  details  and  try  them  out  in 
practice.  While  this  was  being  done,  he  would  want  the 
best  that  has  been  accumulated  in  the  years  past  to  continue 
until  he  was  reasonably  certain  as  to  the  exact  details  of  the 
next  steps  that  are  to  be  taken.  If  he  is  to  make  mistakes,  it 


SOME  CONCLUDING  CONSIDERATIONS         287 

is  better  for  him  to  continue  the  old  mistakes  than  to  in- 
vent a  new  series. 

The  superintendent  will  remember  that  inertia  is  as  much 
a  factor  in  the  general  human  economy  as  dynamic  forces; 
that  the  conservation  of  gains  is  as  important  as  making 
fiu-ther  gains.  He  will  be  content  with  neither  without  the 
other. 

Along  with  principals  and  teachers  on  the  one  hand  and 
school  board  and  community  upon  the  other  —  for  he  should 
insist  not  only  upon  democracy  of  opportunity,  but  also  of 
responsibility  —  he  should  look  over  the  work  in  every  sub- 
ject within  the  system,  elementary  school  and  high  school,  in 
the  attempt  to  find  those  places  where  further  growth  is 
demanded  by  community  needs;  especially  those  where 
teachers,  school  board,  and  community  are  prepared  to  take 
the  natural  next  steps  of  progress;  and  where  they  are  in  a 
mood  to  accept  leadership  in  that  direction. 

For  example,  he  will  find  manual  activities  going  on  as  a 
portion  of  the  course.  He  will  try  to  find  the  dozen  or  so 
relatively  small  ways  in  which  the  work  can  be  improved; 
and  he  will  try  to  get  those  relatively  small  things  done.  In 
locating  them,  he  will  consider  the  educational  principles 
relative  to  making  work  real,  making  it  pleasurable,  intellec- 
tuaHzing  it  through  mathematics,  science,  and  design;  social- 
izing the  activities  by  introducing  the  history,  geography, 
and  economics  of  the  field;  the  introduction  of  observational 
activities,  practical  participation,  reading  for  vision  and  so- 
cial appreciations.  Making  no  changes  except  where  there  is 
a  clear  guiding  principle,  moving  by  short  steps,  trying  out 
everything  before  going  far,  it  is  possible  to  make  progress 
that  is  relatively  sure  in  direction  and  relatively  certain  to 
be  permanent.  This  small  amount  of  progress  accomplished, 
the  stage  is  set  for  taking  another  short  step.  This  step  can 
lead  to  a  third;  and  so  the  process  may  continue  indefinitely. 


/ 


288  THE  CURRICULUM 

He  will  then  turn  to  another  subject,  history,  let  us  say. 
He  will  find  many  good  results  being  secured.  But  he  can 
find,  on  the  basis  of  curriculum  principles,  a  dozen  ways  or 
more  in  which  it  may  in  some  measure  be  improved  without 
confusing  the  thought  or  practice  of  teachers  or  community. 
He  doubtless  can  take  some  reasonably  long  steps  in  advance 
provided  he  can  secure  the  necessary  reading  materials. 

In  the  same  way  through  making  a  multitude  of  little 
changes  in  each  subject  he  can  with  assurance  arrive  by 
the  stages  of  normal  growth  and  with  reasonable  speed  at 
a  curriculum  that  is  better  adapted  to  social  needs.  By 
enlisting  the  active  cooperation  of  all  concerned,  all  can 
move  forward  together. 

To  keep  from  getting  lost  among  the  innumerable  de- 
tails of  many  subjects,  distributed  over  many  grades,  super- 
intendent and  staff  should  cooperatively  draw  up  a  con- 
cise summary  of  the  curriculum  principles  to  be  kept  in 
mind  in  connection  with  each  subject.  In  some  of  the  sub- 
jects there  should  probably  be  different  lists  for  different 
grade  levels.  These  should  be  printed  so  that  they  could  be 
continually  used  in  checking  and  rechecking  the  situation 
as  regards  each  subject.  They,  too,  should  be  subjected 
to  continual  revision. 

The  superintendent  will  not  try  to  advance  more  rapidly 
than  teachers,  school  board,  and  community  are  prepared 
for.  He  will  consider  his  position  to  be  not  educator  Jor 
the  community;  but  rather  only  a  specialized  leader  of  the 
community  in  its  labors  of  educating  its  children.  In  other 
words,  he  will  conceive  the  responsibihty  of  education  to  be 
not  his  primarily,  but  rather  one  that  rests  squarely  upon  the 
total  community.  He  is  but  a  specialized  helper  and  leader 
in  the  work.  If  he  goes  faster  than  they  can  or  will  go  and 
leaves  them  behind,  by  so  doing  he  abdicates  the  responsi- 
bility that  they  have  delegated  to  him.  As  a  leader  he  must 


SOME  CONCLUDING  CONSIDERATIONS         289 

take  the  community  with  him;  or  he  is  no  longer  its  leader. 
If  they  are  backward  and  slow,  his  pace  must  be  determined 
by  their  pace;  except  as  he  can  normally  accelerate  it.  If 
they  are  awake  and  progressive  and  eager  and  able  to  pro- 
ceed rapidly,  he  must  lead  in  progress  of  that  character. 
It  is  not  inconceivable  that  his  task  of  seeing  that  work  is 
substantial  and  permanent  may  sometimes  require  restraint 
upon  an  over-eager  community. 

He  will  assume  that  not  all  progress  is  to  be  made  in  this 
generation;  that  something  is  to  be  left  for  those  that  come 
after  us.  And  yet,  he  will  attempt  all  of  the  progress  for 
which  conditions  are  ripe,  and  for  which  he  can  without 
forcing  make  them  ripe. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Aims  of  education,  in  general,  3-7, 
41-52;  vocational,  56-57,  63-70, 
71,  87-88,  94-95;  civic,  117,  130, 
131,  160;  moral,  163-64,  166; 
health,  173-79,  185,  189-90;  rec- 
reational, 209,  212,  224-26,  229; 
language,  255-56;  double-aim  of 
work-activities,  20;  vague  aims  of 
the  past,  41;  need  of  specific  aims, 
43. 

Antecedent  aspects  of  work-experi- 
ence, in  general,  26-33;  relation  to 
extra-mural  activities,  39;  admin- 
istrative aspect,  40. 

Apprenticeship  training,  24. 

Capital  and  labor,  education  for  mu- 
tual understanding,  76-86. 

Citizenship  training,  general,  117- 
62;  major  objective,  117-30; 
training  for  large-group  conscious- 
ness, 131-62;  on  play-level,  13;  on 
work-level,  22,  37;  relation  of 
physical  education  to,  176;  foreign 
languages  needed  for,  262-64. 

Civics.  See  Citizenship  training. 
Social  studies. 

Classics,  the,  5,  272-81. 

Concrete  experience.  See  Shop- 
work,  Observation,  Reading,  Prac- 
tical activities. 

Cooking,  introduction  of  responsi- 
bility, 34-35;  as  general  training, 
102. 

CoSperative  part-time  work,  21-24, 
39^0.  83,  144,  155,  190,  202-04. 

Culture  advocates  vs.  utilitarians, 
3-7. 

Curiosity,  as  educational  motive, 
9-11. 

Deficiency  as  symptom  of  training 
need,  44-46, 50-52, 56-57;  in  occu- 
pational matters,  63-70;  English, 


248^9;  foreign  languages,  255- 
66,  272-73. 
Double  aim   of   work-activities  in 
schools,  20. 

English  language  training,  general 
discussion,  247-54;  motivation  of 
responsibility,  22-23;  assistance 
of  foreign  languages,  272-78.  See 
Reading,  Grammar,  Composition, 
Literature. 

Exercise  in  relation  to  function,  212- 
13. 

Extra-mural  activities  necessary  for 
finding  responsibility,  20-22;  gen- 
eral theory,  34-40;  occupational, 
21-24, 105-08;  civic,  149-57;  sani- 
tational,  185-88,  202-04. 

Foreign  languages,  general  discus- 
sion, 255-81;  utility  vs.  culture, 
5-€;  method  of  discovering  pur- 
poses, i55-56;  needed  for  occupa- 
tional efliciency,  256-62;  needed 
for  citizenship,  262-64;  for  family 
life,  264-66;  for  leisure  occupa- 
tions, 266-71;  for  proficiency  in 
English,  272-78;  for  humanisni, 
278-81. 

French,  271. 

Gardening,  34,  35, 102. 

Generalist,  education  of  the,  78- 
82. 

Geography,  reading,  12,  231-37; 
occupational,  112;  for  civic  pur- 
poses, 146-48,  160.     ^ 

Grammar,  errors  as  indices  of  train- 
ing needs,  45-46,  248-49;  motiva- 
tion of  training,  249;  general  dis- 
cussion, 247-54. 

Health  training,  in  general,  171-204; 
major  purpose,  171-79;  physical 


S94 


INDEX 


up-building,  180-88;  social  aspects, 
189-204;  through  responsible  ac- 
tivities, 22,  37;  through  play,  8, 
15-16,  181-85,  212-13,  219. 

History,  utility  vs.  culture,  4-5; 
readings,  13,  231;  occupational 
history,  109-12;  for  nationalistic 
training,  134-41;  for  international 
attitudes,  160-62;  of  sanitation, 
193-201. 

Household  occupations,  on  play- 
level,  15;  on  work-level,  21,  34-35; 
as  general  training,  102. 

Hygiene.  See  Health  training. 

Ideational  aspects  of  work-activity, 
26-33,  36,  40,  71-75. 

Industrial  education.  See  Occupa- 
tional training. 

Interest,  as  motive,  9-10, 17,  20, 195, 
208-09,  221-22,  227-29,  267. 

Large-group  consciousness,  the  devel- 
opment of,  13,  128-30,  131-67. 

Latin,  271,  272-78. 

Leisure  occupations,  general  discus- 
sion, 207-43;  function  of,  207-26; 
8-9;  reading  as  leisure  occupation, 
227-43;  foreign  languages  as  lei- 
sure occupation,  266-71. 

Levels  of  educational  experience, 
two,  3-7. 

Liberalizing  studies,  3-6,  11-16, 
208,  224,  229-31.  See  Readmg, 
History,  Science,  Leisure  occupa- 
tions. 

Literature,  utility  vs.  culture,  4-5; 
as  intellectual  play,  12,  231,  238- 
43;  English  vs.  foreign  literatures, 
269-70. 

Manual  training.  See  Shop-work. 
Moral  training,  in  general,  163-67; 

relation  of  physical  education  to, 

174-76;  and  recreational  training, 

222-24. 
Mother  tongue,  247-54,  272-78.  ^ 
Motivation  of  educational  activities, 

play  or  interest   motive,   16-17; 

work-motive,  18-22. 


Municipal  consciousness,  develop- 
ment of,  141-57. 

National  consciousness,  developing, 
134-41. 

Objectives  of  training.  See  Aims  of 
education. 

Observation,  in  occupational  field, 
105-08;  in  civic  field,  149-50;  in 
health  training,  190,  191,  202- 
04;  purposes  and  place  of,  227- 
30. 

Occupational  training,  in  general, 
55-113;  objectives,  55-70;  tech- 
nical training  of  independent 
specialists,  71-75;  of  group  spe- 
cialists, 76-86;  social  aspects,  87- 
113;  relation  of  physical  training 
to,  173-74;  relation  of  recreational 
training  to,  224-26;  foreign  lan- 
guages concerned  in,  256-62. 

Participation  in  responsible  activi- 
ties.  See  Practical  activities. 

Physical  training,  definition,  180; 
general  discussion,  180-88;  through 
play,  15-16,  212-21. 

Place  of  educational  experiences,  gen- 
eral treatment,  34-40;  household 
occupations,  34-35;  gardening,  35; 
training  of  mechanics,  35-36; 
health  training,  36-37,  185-88; 
occupational,  105,  108. 

Plasticity  as  educational  objective, 
224-25. 

Play,  educational  values,  8-9;  func- 
tion in  human  life,  207-26;  rela- 
tion to  work,  18-20. 

Play-level  of  education,  defined,  6; 
general  treatment,  8-17.  See  Lei- 
sure occupations. 

Practical  activities,  recognition  of 
need,  20-25;  occupations,  99-105; 
civic,  141-57;  health,  181, 185-86. 
202,  204. 

Project-method,  30-33.  See  Prac- 
tical activities.  School  credit  for 
home  work. 

Psychology  of  play.  212-24. 


INDEX 


295 


Purposes  of  education.  See  Aims  of 
education. 

Reading,  historical,  13,  108-12, 
134-41,  160-62,  193-94,  231,  237; 
geographical,  12,  231-37, 112, 194; 
occupational,  92,  108-13;  science, 
14,  194,  231,  237;  literature,  12, 
231,  237^3;  as  substitute  for  di- 
rect experience,  108-09,  132-34, 
199-202,  227-43;  need  of  abun- 
dance, 238-41,  254,  268,  278. 

Recreational  training.  See  Leisure 
occupations.  Play,  Aims  of  edu- 
cation. 

Religious  training,  166-67. 

Responsibility  as  factor  in  education, 
place  of,  19-21,  82,  150,  155,  203; 
difficulty  of  introducing,  23-25. 

Sanitation.  See  Health  training. 

School  and  community.  See  School 
credit  for  home  work.  Cooperative 
part-time  work.  Practical  activi- 
ties. 

School  credit  for  home  work,  21-22, 
38-39,  106,  149-50.  185-88,  202- 
04. 

Schools,  places  of  leisure,  23-25. 

Science,  utility  vs.  culture,  4;  on 
play-level,  13-14,231, 237;  "pure" 
science,  28,  S3;  relation  to  prac- 
tical life,  26-33,  71-75;  hygiene 
and  sanitation,  194-95. 

Scientific  management,  78-86. 

Scientific  method  in  curriculum  mak- 
ing, in  general,  41-52;  in  voca- 
tional field,  63-70;  in  civic  field, 
117. 

Sewing,  34, 102. 


Shop-work,  on  play-level,  15;  on 
work-level,  20-22,  35-36;  range  of 
activities,  99-105. 

Social  progress,  education  as  agency 
of,  49,  68-70. 

Social  service  aspect  of  occupations. 
55-61,  87-91. 

Social  studies.  See  History,  Geog- 
raphy, Citizenship  training.  Oc- 
cupational training.  Health  train- 
ing. 

Social  supervision  of  occupational 
world,  87-98. 

Social  training  through  play,  8,  16. 

Spanish.  262,  271. 

Spelling,  discovering  the  objectives, 
47,  249;  error-lists,  251. 

Survey  as  method  of  discovering 
educational  objectives,  in  general, 
42-44;  in  grammar,  45-46;  in 
spelling,  47;  in  occupational  field, 
47,  68;  in  agriculture,  48-49. 

Technical  training,  26-33,  71-86. 
Training  of  group-workers,  76-86. 

Vocabulary-building,  through  foreign 
languages,  273-78;  reality-method, 
241,  250,  274;  verbal  methods. 
240-41,  275. 

Vocational  education.  See  Occupa- 
tional training. 

Work-level  of  educational  experi- 
ence, defined,  6;  general  treat- 
ment, 18-33;  for  high  school  and 
college,  25.  See  Practical  activi- 
ties. 

World-consciousness,  development 
of.  157-62. 


THE  HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN 
PROFESSIONAL  LIBRARY 

For  Teachers  and  Students  of  Education 


THEORY  AND  PRINCIPLES  OF  EDUCATION 

Postpaid 

McMurry's  (F.  M.)  How  to  Study  and  Teaching 

How  to  Study $1.50 

McMurry's    (C.    A.)    Conflicting    Principles    in 

Teaching 1.40 


Woodley's  The  Profession  of  Teaching  .     . 

Bobbitt's  The  Curriculum 

Kirkpatrick's  Fundamentals  of  Sociology  . 
Kirkpatrick's  The  Individual  in  the  Making 
Ruediger's  The  Principles  of  Education 
Hanus's  Beginnings  in  Industrial  Education 
O'Shea's  Social  Development  and  Education 

Tyler's  Growth  and  Education 

Henderson's  Education  and  the  Larger  Life 
Chancellor's  A  Theory  of  Motives,  Ideals,  and 

Values  in  Education 2.00 


40 

50 
40 
40 
50 
25 
00 

50 
50 


PRACTICAL  ASPECTS  OF  EDUCATION 

Charters's  Teaching  the  Common  Branches    . 


Nolan's  The  Teaching  of  Agriculture 
EIarhart's  Types  of  Teaching    .... 
Wilson's  The  Motivation  of  School  Work 
Leavitt  and   Brown's  Pre  vocational  Education 

in  the  Public  Schools 

Hall's  The  Question  as  a  Factor  in  Teaching 
Kready's  a  Study  of  Fairy  Tales    .... 
Bryant's  How  to  Tell  Stories  to  Children   . 

Cabot's  Ethics  for  Children  c 

Brownlee's  Character  Building  in  School    . 

A  Course  in  Citizenship 

Bloomfield's  Youth,  School,  and  Vocation 
Colby's  Literature  and  Life  in  School      .     . 

The  Kindergarten     . 

Fulmer's  The  Use  of  the  Kindergarten  Gifts 
Bates's  Talks  on  Teaching  Literature      .     . 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK         CHICAGO 

1833 


50 

30 
40 

40 


30 

30 
40 
10 
SO 
25 
35 
35 
35 
50 
30 
5° 


i 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  i'lNE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


APR     12  19^16 


MAY  18   194C 


23  1947 


tSSefrSni}"^ 


2l^MfiH{ti 


REC'D  LP 


tPP    6 '64  7  ?i'^ 


LD  21-1007yi-12,*43  (8796s) 


rsifki 


66 


"/• 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


